USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > History of New Bedford, Volume III > Part 12
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His connection with the music of Sacred Heart Church brought him into relation with musicians and music lovers, and he has been most favorably received as a teacher and tuner. His classes of both piano and organ students are large, and through a business arrangement with the music dealing firms he is able to negotiate occasional sales of instru- ments. He is a member of Local No. 214, American Federation of Musi- cians, and has contributed largely toward raising New Bedford's musical standard. He has composed many numbers which have been published, most of them carefully arranged for the use of students and very care- fully graded. Among these is a popular tarantella, "Napolita," "Pansies and Roses," "Risette," a petite farandole, "Dancing Nymphs," "Young Heroes March," all published by Presser, of Philadelphia, and valse de concert, "Les Fleurs," published by C. W. Thompson, of Boston. Both he and his wife are ardent supporters of everything that is good in music, and wherever there is a good concert being given they are to be found. Mr. Braun, with his wide and varied experience and musical attainments, is exerting an influence in the right direction and one result of his work is seen in the German singing society, "Arbeiter Liedertafel," of which he was conductor for several years until obliged to retire through press of engagements. He is a member of the Loyal Order of Moose, the Francs Tireurs, Workmen's Sick and Death Benefit Association, Ameri- can Federation of Musicians, Arbeiter Leidertafel, Chamber De Com- merce (Franco-Americaine ), and a communicant of Sacred Heart Parish, Roman Catholic.
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Mr. Braun married in Montreal, Canada, January 30, 1901, Laura Angelina Roy, born at Lacadie, Province of Quebec, Canada, January 15, 1875, daughter of Laurent and Eleonore Roy, her father a retired farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Braun are the parents of four children : Leon Alfred Nicho- las, born February 22, 1902; Leopold Laurent Simon, July 13, 1903; Laurette Julie Beatrice, November 9, 1907; Marcel Emile, July 19, 1914.
WILLIAM W. CRAPO.
William Wallace Crapo is by unanimous consent reckoned the First Citizen. This was an honor conceded to him many years ago, and he has retained it through several generations. He is eighty-eight years old, and the span of his life covers the transition of the city from a village to the greatest whaling port in the world, and from the famous whaling port to the first position among the cities of the United States in the manufacture of cotton. Of these developments he has been a part, and is still active in the management of great business affairs connected with the textile industry and its financing. He retains at the present time the presidency of cotton mills and banks, and is consulted in the great affairs of the community. His prominence as a business man would make his local fame secure, but he receives admiring consideration from his fellow citizens for other attributes and services. For a half century he has been considered the most graceful and captivating orator. He has been the first choice as a speaker whenever any extraordinary occasion has called the citizens together. His reputation would be secure and permanent if it rested alone upon the addresses, charming in reminiscence and polished in style, delivered upon the occasion of the celebration of the great anni- versaries in local history, which have called the people together in the past, at the two hundredth Dartmouth anniversary in 1867, at the Cen- tennial in 18,6, the fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the city in 1897, and when it came to the selection of the most effective orator for the dedication of the Bourne Whaling Museum, but two years ago, he was still, by common agreement, the first choice. Not only has he achieved the leading position in the business and literary life of the com- inunity, but he acquired State and National prominence in his political career, and wide fame as public servant, historian and leading member of the local bar. And to-day, as he walks the streets amid the lengthen- ing shadows, he carries dignity and reverence in his presence, is full of honors and crowned with esteem.
Mr Crapo is sentimentally attached to every nook and corner of Old Dartmouth and has done more than any other man to preserve its his- tory. The collections at the Free Public Library and the Old Dart- mouth Historical Society are enriched by his contributions, not only of his own research and literature, but by paintings, books and pamphlets.
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The statue of "The Harpooner," elsewhere described, was his gift to the city. Every morning Mr. Crapo is at his desk in the law offices of Crapo, Clifford & Prescott, and he is still the trusted advisor and inspirer of many perplexed and often discouraged business men who seek his com- forting philosophy. He can recall how in the past the perplexities and discouragements of earlier generations have resolved into the general prosperity of the community.
William Wallace Crapo, of the sixth recorded generation of his fam- ily, only son of Henry Howland Crapo, who was afterwards Governor of Michigan, was born at Barney's Joy, in the town of Dartmouth, May 16, 1830. Two years later his parents moved to New Bedford, where he has since dwelt. Like his father, he was an accomplished student, and mak- ing the law his goal, neglected no detail of preliminary preparation. He completed New Bedford public school courses with graduation from high school, and in turn was graduated from Phillips Academy, An- dover; Friends' Academy, New Bedford, and Yale College, being awarded his Bachelor's degree with the class of 1852. In college he was conspicuous for literary achievements and was chosen class poet. After graduation from Yale, Mr. Crapo began the study of law in the office of Governor John H. Clifford, then entered Harvard Law School and was graduated Bachelor of Laws in the class of 1854. He was admitted to the Bristol county bar in 1855, located in New Bedford for practice, and now, sixty-two years later, is the senior member of the law firm, Crapo, Clifford & Prescott, every day to be found at his desk in the Masonic building. During his early years his practice was largely admiralty law and he was connected with the "Geneva Award" and the distribution of the "Alabama Claims." The "Alabama" destroyed scores of vessels and the owners and crews, or their heirs, were compensated later on by Eng- land. In later years Mr. Crapo's practice has been largely in connection with the affairs of corporations. In his first year as a legal practitioner, Mr. Crapo was appointed city solicitor and held the office from 1855 until 1867, a period of twelve years. He was chairman of the water board from 1865 to 1875. As the years progressed he was chosen to administer many estates, often to serve as guardian and trustee, until more business of that nature poured in upon him than he could attend to. There are few enterprises of a public nature inaugurated in New Bedford during the last half century with which his name is not connected in some capacity and whether as legal adviser or official, his rare judgment, keen fore- sight and wise counsel has been strongly relied upon to bring success. In 1870 Mr. Crapo was chosen president of the Mechanics' National Bank, and remained as the head of that institution until 1904. He was chosen the executive head of the New Bedford Institution for Savings in 1896, a position he still holds. He is the president of the Wamsutta, Potomska and Acushnet mills and is in his quietly aggressive way, a power everywhere. Through his father, he became interested in Michi-
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gan investments, was for many years president of the Flint & Pere Mar- quette Railroad Company, acquiring extensive lumber interests. Mr. Crapo is at the present time a director of the Genesee County Savings Bank of Flint. He served many years as a director of the International Trust Company of Boston, and held many directorships in manufactur- ing and railroad corporations, his business interests being so extensive as to indicate the manufacturer or financier rather than the professional man.
From the beginning of his career he participated actively in politics, and was a supporter of the first candidate of the Republican party, Gen- eral John C. Fremont in 1856, in whose interest he made a number of speeches. In 1860 he supported Mr. Lincoln for the Presidency, and during the war, 1861-65, he gave freely of his time, his means, and his energy to the support of the Union cause.
His first State service was rendered in 1856, when he was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and his first national service was in 1875 when he was chosen to fill a vacancy in the Forty-fourth Congress. He was elected to the Forty-fifth, the Forty- sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses, finally declining a renomination. In the Forty-fifth Congress he was a member of the committee on foreign affairs ; banking and currency in the Forty-sixth; and chairman of bank- ing and currency in the Forty-seventh Congress. During his last term he was in charge of the bill for extending the charters of national banks, and against determined opposition he skillfully piloted the bill to pas- sage. His Congressional career was marked by a lofty standard, and he became conspicuous as a statesman of ability and integrity. He was the choice of many leaders in the State for Governor, and missed securing the Republican nomination by a small margin.
In a recent interview Mr. Crapo said :
I was the only boy in a family of ten children. Those were the days when people had families, antediluvian days, I suppose, (and there was the quiet chuckle again). When I was getting on toward thirty my father used to take me to see Lincoln and Stanton. These calls all had to do with the routine conduct of the war, the raising of troops and such matters.
As I recall Lincoln, he was always very serious minded. The topics were never mirthful. I can relate no incidents of his story telling. He was a man with a great crisis to handle and he was sober, indeed. He would say, "Well, Governor, you will have to see Stanton about that," and we would go on to the War Department.
Grant, I knew much better. I was in Congress during his Presi- dency. Before that time I had had much to say about the Alabama claims which meant so much to the people of this city. I had specialized in admiralty law and prepared the first memorial asking that the United States demand reparation for the burning of the barque "Atlantic," with the statements of Captain Tilton and certain of the officers and the crew, as well as of the customs officers and others. Of course, New Bedford suffered severely from the depredations of the rebel cruisers built in England.
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I well recall Seward's reply, which, unfortunately, I did not preserve. He was gratified, and so on. He wanted a continuance of such memo- rials, and so on. But-he did not suppose that Great Britain would acknowledge any obligation to us, but in some future controversy with that country these memorials might be useful, and so on. It was because I wished to induce Congress to act in the matter that I sought to become a member of that body. And thus I came into intimate contact with Grant. I used to see him and urge him in his messages to insert pointed references to that entire subject.
The splendid outcome was the Alabama arbitration, and I knew well Charles Francis Adams, Ambassador to England, and our leading arbi- trator. I have always been rather proud of the share I may have had in the honorable adjudication of that great cause.
Mr. Crapo continued in Congress during the time of the Hayes and Tilden controversy, and he was a member of the commission to investi- gate the Louisiana election, taking testimony as one of a sub-committee in some counties of the "black belt" in that State.
He was selected by his colleagues from Massachusetts to accept on the part of the House of Representatives the desk on which Jefferson had written the Declaration. The desk carried an autograph inscription in the author's handwriting to the effect that upon it he had penned that instrument. The story is known to comparatively few, even in Massa- chusetts, says Mr. Crapo, how a granddaughter of Jefferson married a Coolidge, and how he presented the desk to her husband some time in the twenties, and how their heirs-J. Randolph Coolidge, Dr. Algernon Coolidge, Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, and Mrs. Ellen Dwight, all of the Bay State-desired to present the relic to the government, and how Rob- ert C. Winthrop acted as intermediary and transferred the desk to the government, and how the President committed it to Congress, when Senator Dawes in the Upper House and Mr. Crapo in the Lower made the acceptance speeches, after which in the House Randolph Tucker made an "eloquent address," says Mr. Crapo.
Yale University in 1882 conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, and many honors have been bestowed in recognition of his erudition and accomplishments. His tastes have run in later years to historical themes and he has written much concerning Old Dartmouth and Old New Bedford. He is a member of Massachusetts Historical, Old Colony Historical and Old Dartmouth Historical Societies, the Pil- grim Society. the Union Club of Boston and the Wamsutta Club of New Bedford. In religious affiliation he is a Unitarian.
Mr. Crapo married, in New Bedford, January 22, 1857, Sarah A. Davis Tappan, born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, October 6, 1831, died in New Bedford, December 13, 1893, daughter of George and Serena (Davis) Tappan, her father a merchant of Newburyport. Mr. and Mrs. Crapo were the parents of two sons: 1. Henry Howland Crapo, born in New Bedford, January 31, 1862, a graduate of Harvard, 1883; president of the Union and other street railway corporations ; member of the Bris-
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tol county bar, and of the law firm of Crapo, Clifford & Prescott ; mar- ried Carolina M. Caldwell, who died March 5, 1901. 2. Stanford Tappan Crapo, born in New Bedford, June 13, 1865 ; a graduate of Yale, 1887; a railroad manager and manufacturer of Detroit, Michigan ; married, Octo- ber 10, 1894, Emma Morley, of Painesville, Ohio. Children: William Wallace (2) Crapo, born August 2, 1895; Catherine Crapo, born July 23, 1897; Mary Morley Crapo, born July 8, 1912.
Governor Henry Howland Crapo, the father of William W. Crapo, was a son of Jesse and Phebe (Howland) Crapo, of Dartmouth, his mother a descendant of Henry Howland, of Duxbury, one of the original purchasers of Dartmouth. Henry Howland Crapo, a Governor of Michi- gan, was born at the home of his grandfather in the northern part of the town of Dartmouth, near the Freetown line, May 24, 1804, and died at his home in Flint, Michigan, June 22, 1869. His youth was spent at his father's farm and in the winters he attended the district school. He made every effort possible to add to his knowledge, often walking from his home, eight miles, to New Bedford, to consult a book or look up the meaning of words he had encountered in his reading or study. James B. Congdon is authority for the statement that he compiled a manuscript dictionary of words whose meaning he discovered, and that he (Mr. Congdon) had seen the manuscript. He also made himself master of the theory of surveying, and after fashioning himself a crude compass at the blacksmith's shop at the Head of Westport, put his theory into practice. He so applied himself that he became the village schoolmaster. He was twenty-eight years of age when he moved to New Bedford. The immediate reason of Mr. Crapo's coming to New Bedford was that he had the job of surveying and settling the complicated land interests involved in the failure of Seth and Charles Russell. He opened a sur- veyor's office, advertising as an accountant and auctioneer. He soon became active in public affairs and was elected town clerk, treasurer and collector of taxes, holding these offices fifteen years. When New Bedford became a city he was treasurer and collector of taxes for two years. He had been police justice many years. He served as a member of the board of aldermen, and chairman of the committee on education, and personally prepared the report made by the committee from which sprang the action creating the Free Public Library. He was chosen a member of the library's first board of trustees. He compiled and pub- lished directories of New Bedford for 1836 and 1845.
He had whaling interests, owning in several ships, one of which bore his name. He was president of the Bristol County Fire Insurance Com- pany and secretary of the New Bedford Commercial Insurance Company. He organized the Horticultural Society of New Bedford and was its first president ; was a regular contributor to the "New England Horticultural Journal" and a well-known grower of fruit and ornamental trees, shrubs, and flowers. This was his passion, and upon his own grounds he propa-
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gated one hundred and fifty varieties of pears and one hundred and twenty varieties of roses, which were exhibited at horticultural fairs in Boston and elsewhere. His long connection with the municipal govern- ment won him the abiding confidence of his townsmen, and so precise was he, so exact and methodical, so conscientious and persistent in the discharge of every duty pertaining to his official transactions with the town and city, that no error has ever been detected or improvement made upon his method as a financial or recording officer.
The United States Government issued to the soldiers of the Mexi- an War "land scrip" in the Territory of Michigan. This scrip was sold by the soldiers and a considerable amount of it was bought by New Bed- 'ord merchants, George Howland being a large purchaser. The land was so remote that its ownership became of questionable value, and the Michi- gan land scrip fell far below par. It was soon after 1840 that Mr. Crapo became interested in buying up this scrip at a low figure and, acting for George Howland, he went to Michigan and took up many acres of land in the southern counties, selling them to prospecting farmers. In this way he became familiar with the territory of Michigan and established business relations with many of its pioneers. It was later that James Arnold, of New Bedford, became involved in a large loan on the timber land in northern Michigan. He employed Mr. Crapo to investigate the security. Mr. Crapo's duties as city treasurer and treasurer of the Bed- ford Commercial Insurance Company prohibited him from undertaking a personal investigation of Mr. Arnold's investments, and he sent his son, William W. Crapo, about twenty-one years old, to look up the land titles and survey the timber, an employment for which as college student, graduating as class poet, he naturally had very little aptitude. His report was favorable. As a result Mr. Arnold became still more involved in the timber lands, and asked Mr. Crapo to take hold of the whole proposi- tion. Judge Oliver Prescott became interested with Mr. Crapo in under- taking the business. This necessitated Mr. Crapo's removal with his family to Michigan. He settled at Flint, where the logs could be floated down to be manufactured into lumber. It was as a lumber merchant that he gave his most energetic life work.
He also took a deep interest in public affairs, was elected mayor of Flint in 1861, State Senator in 1862, Governor of the State in 1864, re- elected in 1866, retiring from office January 1, 1869. During the latter part of his life he was a regular contributor to the "Country Gentleman," was president of the Genessee (Michigan ) County Agricultural Society, retained his interest in the trees, shrubs, plants and flowers, as long as he lived and at the National Horticultural Society's annual meeting at Phil- adelphia, in 1869, a most beautiful and touching eulogy of their honored comrade was delivered by the president of the society.
It was said of Governor Crapo in the columns of the "Detroit Tribune," July 24, 1869:
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In all the public positions he held Governor Crapo showed himself a capable, discreet, vigilant and industrious officer. He evinced wonder- ful vigor in mastering details, and always wrote and spoke intelligently on any subject to which he gave his attention, Michigan never before had a Governor who devoted so much personal attention and painstaking labor to her public duties as he did. His industry was literally amazing. He was not a man of brilliant or showy qualities, but he possessed sharp and remarkably well developed business talents, a clear and practical understanding, sound judgment and unfailing integrity. In all the walks of life there was not a purer man in the State. So faithful, so laborious, so conscientious a man in office is a blessing beyond computation in the healthful influence which he exerts in the midst of the too prevalent cor- ruptions that so lamentably abound in the public service. We have often thought that in his broad and sterling good sense. Governor Crapo closely resembled the lamented Lincoln. He was a man of the people and most worthily represented them. His decease is an occasion for public mourning and the State has very few men like him and can ill afford to spare such an eminently useful citizen. His death will be de- plored throughout our Commonwealth.
As a fitting mate for so sterling a character a great-great-great-grand- daughter of the Pilgrim Giles Slocum was chosen, Mary Ann Slocum, of Dartmouth, Massachusetts. Of her it was written:
Mrs. Crapo was a character of rare, precious qualities. Of New England birth and education, she had all the earnestness and exalted veneration for truth and honor and the high sense of duty which fell to the best type of New England people. During a long life of duties and not free from afflictions, she walked always helpfully beside her hus- band, the two combining in a singular degree the executive force which conquers obstacles and the grace which wins love and esteem. Since the death of her husband she has devoted herself to the duties of her home, meeting all the demands of society and looking with a watchful eye over the interests of her children.
Governor Crapo married, June 9, 1825, in Dartmouth, Massachu- setts, Mary Ann Slocum, born May 21, 1805, died in Flint, Michigan, June 9, 1875, daughter of Williams and Ann (Chase) Slocum, of Dart- mouth, her mother a daughter of Benjamin and Mary Ann (Almy) Chase, of Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Williams Slocum was a son of Peleg, son of Peleg, son of Giles Slocum, the New England founder of the family. Children of Henry H. and Mary (Slocum) Crapo: 1. Mary Ann Crapo, born November 6, 1827; married John Orrell. 2. William Wallace Crapo, born May 16, 1830. 3. Rebecca Folger Crapo, born March 26, 1833; mar- ried William C. Durant. 4. Sarah Bush Crapo, born January 14, 1835; married Alphonso Ross. 5. Lucy Ann Crapo, born November 8, 1836; married H. H. H. C. Smith. 6. Rhoda Macomber Crapo, born July 29, 1838; married James C. Willson. 7. Henrietta Peel Crapo, born July 19, 1840; married Ferris F. Hyatt. 8. Lydia Sherman Crapo, born July 19, 1843, died September 14, 1861. 9. Emma Eliza Chase Crapo, born June
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1, 1845; married Harlan P. Christy. 10. Wilhemina Helena Crapo, born April 6, 1849, married Charles W. Clifford.
Jesse Crapo was a son of Peter and Sarah (West) Crapo, of Dart- mouth. Peter was born in 1743, a minute-man of the Revolution, march- ing with Captain Levi Rounseville's company on the Lexington Alarm, April 19, 1775. Peter, the minute-man, was a son of John and Sarah (Clark) Crapo, who was a son of Peter Crapo, the American founder of the family, a young French lad "cast up by the sea" on the shore of Cape Cod about 1680. There could be nothing learned as to who he was, but the Crapaud, applying to all Frenchmen alike in the minds of those who rescued him from the wreck, he became Peter Crapaud, and the founder of the Crapo family of Dartmouth. He married, May 31, 1704, Penelope White, daughter of Samuel White, of Rochester, Massachu- setts, and granddaughter of Resolved White, son of William White, a passenger of the "Mayflower." Peter, the founder, and his son John, resided in Rochester, but Peter of the third generation moved to Free- town. Peter's wife was Sarah West, of Dartmouth. Their marriage intentions were published May 18, 1766. Jesse Crapo, grandfather of William Wallace Crapo, owned a farm in the southern part of the town of Dartmouth, on the Rock-a-dunda road.
HENRY HOWLAND CRAPO.
Henry Howland Crapo, the eldest son of William W. Crapo, has the extraordinary distinction of conducting a great public utility in a way that gives satisfaction to a majority of people. He is at the head of the Union Street Railway Corporation, which operates the line to Fall River, and also of the New Bedford & Onset Line, which runs down Cape Cod as far as Buzzards Bay. The Crapo family were large owners in the road. It was slammed and attacked as are most public utility companies and in his inmost heart Mr. Crapo conceived the criticism was not with- out reason. So he determined to undertake himself the experiment of popularizing a public utility, surrendered his law business and took up the management of the street railroad. It is one of the few profitable roads in New England and Mr. Crapo has established the policy of being liberal with the people in accommodations. The cars operated are the finest in the country and invariably attract attention and compliment from visitors from other cities. The company has extended its lines to unprofitable sections out of a sense of its duty to the public. It has de- veloped two beautiful parks, Lincoln Park and a Marine Park at Fort Phoenix, Fairhaven, the latter reflecting Mr. Crapo's artistic taste.
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