USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > History of New Bedford, Volume III > Part 14
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WILLIAM FRANCIS READ.
From the time of the coming of John Read to New England until the present generation of which William Francis Read, of New Bedford, is representative, the Reads have been residents of Rehoboth and New Bedford, Massachusetts, Mr. Read, above mentioned, and his brother, Charles W. Read, and Ella H. Read, being the only natives of New Bedford, their father, Joseph R. Read, a successful merchant, the first of his line to make that city his home. Behind John Read, of Rehoboth, the American ancestor, are fourteen generations of Englishmen, descent being traced in direct line to Brianus De Rede, living in 1139, from whom came the Reeds, Reids, Reads and Reades. The line from Brianus De
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Rede to John Read, the Pilgrim, is thus traced: Brianus De Rede ; his son William ; his son Robert ; his son Golfinus ; his son Thomas; his son Thomas (2) ; his son Thomas (3) ; his son John, Mayor of Norwich, England, in 1388; his son Edward; his son William, a professor of Divinity ; his son William (2) ; his son William (3); his son Matthew, an Esquire ; his son William (4), married Lucy Henage ; their son John, the American ancestor.
John Read, of the fifteenth English generation and founder of the family in New England, came from England in 1630. He was of Wey- mouth in 1637, Dorchester in 1638, Braintree next, Rehoboth in 1643, going there with Rev. Mr. Newman and his company, his name being placed third in a list of purchasers of land in the town. He held the then important office of constable, and seems to have been highly esteemed by his townsmen. His home was in that part of Rehoboth, now Seekonk, and there he was keeper of the inn. He died September 7, 1685, aged eighty-seven. His wife Sarah bore him the following children : Samuel, William, Abigail, John (2), of further mention ; Thomas, Ezekiel and Zechariah (twins), Moses, Mary, Elizabeth, Daniel, Israel, and Mehitable.
John (2) Read was born August 29, 1640, his parents then living in Braintree, soon afterwards moving to Rehoboth. He was killed in the fight with the Indians, identified in history as "Pierce's Fight," March 21, 1676. He was distinguished by the title of Mr. in the records which indicates prominence in his community. By his wife Rachael he had children : Sarah, Mehitable, John (3), and Thomas, of further mention.
Thomas Read, born in Rehoboth, July 23, 1672, died November 25, 1748. He married (first) June 21, 1699, Sarah Butterworth, who left a daughter, Patience, born April 16, 1708. His second wife Martha was the mother of Thomas, Martha, Noah, of further mention ; Hannah, Sarah and Peter.
Noah Read was born in Rehoboth, December 26, 1717, and died October 14, 1773. He married Anna Hunt, they the parents of Peter, Martha, Noah (2), Perez, Cyril, Thomas, of further mention; Anna, Judith, William and Lois.
Thomas Read, born in Rehoboth, December 25, 1752, died there September 2, 1816. He married Hannah Bourne, born December 24, 1761, died January 10, 1817. Children: William, of further mention ; Frances, Betsey, Thomas, Samuel, Noah and John B.
William Read was born in Rehoboth, October 19, 1785, died at Fall River, Massachusetts, November 2, 1863. He married, March 6, 1808, Sarah Rogers, and prior to their removal to Fall River resided at Somerset, Massachusetts, that town being the birthplace of some of their children of whom there were eight: Hannah, Bourne, Peter, William, Thomas, Francis Bourne, Joseph R., of further mention ; and Julia Ann, the last survivor of the family, born December 21, 1821, died unmarried in 1904.
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Joseph R. Read, of the seventh American and the twenty-first recorded generation of his family, was born in Somerset, Massachusetts, July 5, 1818, died in New Bedford, Massachusetts, September 12, 1879. He was educated in the public schools, and after the removal of the family to Fall River he learned the tailor's trade, located in New Bedford, and there until 1850 was in the employ of the clothing firm, O. & E. W. Seabury, as a cutter. He was thirty-three years of age when in 1850, in partnership with Edward Taber, a fellow employee, he bought the Seabury clothing business, which he successfully conducted until his death. Read & Taber later admitted Nathan Ellis to a partnership, and after his death Darius P. Gardner bought the Ellis interest. Mr. Reed, an excellent business man, continued at the head of the business, which became a large and profitable one, until his death in 1879, he then being succeeded by his son, William Francis Read.
Although devoted to his business, Mr. Read was not slavishly so, nor was he unmindful of his responsibilities as a citizen. A man of clear mind and strong convictions, he was very quiet in manner, but forceful, and one to inspire instant respect. He would have preferred to serve his city as a citizen only, but he never shirked duty, and when his ward nominated him for the Board of Aldermen in 1874, he consented to run, was elected and rendered good service during his term. He was devoted to his home and family, was very hospitable, and a most entertaining conversationalist. His library of choice literature, a feature of his home, was very dear to him, his reading covering a variety of subjects, history perhaps being his favored theme. The Read home was the abode of good cheer, and there Mr. Read met his many friends under the happiest conditions.
Mr. Read married, November 17, 1844, Cynthia A. Potter, born September 30, 1823, died January 19, 1913, daughter of Jonathan and Cynthia (Howard) Potter, a direct descendant of Nathaniel Potter, who came from England, and settled at Portsmouth, Rhode Island, signing the "Compact" in 1639, his residence beginning at least a year earlier. Mr. and Mrs. Read were the parents of two sons and two daughters: Clara A., born September 28, 1845, died July 9, 1914, while on a tour of Scotland; William Francis, of further mention; Ella Howard, born December 13, 1850, a resident of New Bedford; and Charles Warren, born January 19, 1853, married Elizabeth Williams, daughter of Theodore Dean Williams, of New Bedford.
William Francis Read, eldest son of Joseph R. and Cynthia A. (Potter) Read, was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, October 14, 1848. He completed full public school courses with graduation from high school, then was a student at Highland Military School at Worces- ter, Massachusetts. He began business life as clerk for a New York City commission house, but after three years in that line he entered the employ of the Boston wholesale clothing house, Merrill & Co., continuing with them as a salesman until the great fire of 1872, which devastated
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Boston's business district. Being thrown out of a position by the fire he decided to return to New Bedford, and the same year he entered his father's employ, the firm then being Taber, Read & Gardner, clothiers. He continued with the firm as a salesman until the death of Joseph R. Read in 1879, the son then succeeding to the father's former interest and place in the firm. For twenty-one years he continued the business founded by his father. Edward T. Taber, the senior partner, and Darius P. Gardner, the junior, were both gathered to their fathers and alone Mr. Read continued the business until 1900, then sold it to a New York concern, but now it is owned by Louis Jean and Frederick C. Clarke and operated as Read & Company. The business when founded by Joseph R. Read was in one store, south of the present First National Bank on Union street and Acushnet avenue, and is still on that street, but on the opposite side. For fifty years, 1850-1900, Joseph R. Read and his son, William F. Read, there served the public as tailors and clothing outfitters, and the name yet is attached to the business although the Read interest has ceased. Since the sale of his clothing business in 1900, Mr. Read has lived a retired life, but is a director of the Kilbourn Mill and Merchants National Bank. His clubs are the Wamsutta and Country. In political faith he is a Republican.
Mr. Read married, October 22, 1879, Eleanor Masters, of Syracuse, New York, who died May 21, 1908. They were the parents of three sons : 1. Warren Kempton, born August 18, 1883, now in the employ of the Kilbourn Mill, New Bedford; he married, October 27, 1907, Jessie Sawyer, of Sharon, Massachusetts, and they are the parents of three children, viz: Warren Kempton, Jr., Cynthia A. and William S. 2. Joseph Masters, born 1885; a cotton broker of New Bedford; married Amelia Haselton, of Rome, New York, parents of three children : Eleanor M., Elizabeth H. and John H. 3. Everett Preston, born April 25, 1887; married Pauline Mowry, of Rome, New York, the parents of one child, Nancy.
HENRY BARNARD WORTH.
Henry Barnard Worth, lawyer, and secretary of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, has rendered the city and succeeding generations unique service. For many years he has devoted himself to research and historical and genealogical investigation, compiling masses of manu- script of inestimable value. These manuscripts have been deposited with the Old Dartmouth Historical Society and the Free Public Library. Mr. Worth has gone about this service without ostentation. Comparatively few people have knowledge of the vastness of the labor and those who know his work and appreciate it have never learned of it from him, for he has no ambition for notoriety. The records cover a wide scope. One undertaking was a history of the old houses of New Bedford and sur- rounding towns. This is illustrated with photographs of every old house
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in the vicinity. The history of these houses has not been assembled casually. Mr. Worth spent the spare time at his command for a period covering several years in the compilation and the facts and dates have been verified by the examination of court records. The expense of these volumes was borne by Mr. Worth and when the work was done he de- posited it among the archives and took up the next task. He has writ- ten exhaustively upon topics of such variety as the fortunes of the rich men of olden days, the old cemeteries and those buried therein, and old ships, and he is keeping at the task persistently, constantly adding to a store of material which is invaluable.
Mr. Worth was born at Brooklyn, New York, February 24, 1858. He was educated in the schools of Nantucket, the Bridgewater Normal School, from which he graduated, then spending a year at Amherst Col- lege. He taught school from 1877 to 1881, then passed his examination to the bar and commenced the practice of law in New Bedford. Mr. Worth came of an old Nantucket family and has contributed to the his- tory of Nantucket as well as of New Bedford. Mr. Worth's father was Captain Calvin G. Worth, of Nantucket, who commanded whaleships and merchant vessels. Mr. Worth is of "Mayflower" and Revolutionary an- cestry, including the Gardiners of Long Island and allied families, the Worths of Nantucket and all the families of the Nantucket settlers and the Winslows of Freetown, Massachusetts, back to Kenelm Winslow. Mr. Worth married, on August 18, 1891, Sarah E. Tuell, a daughter of Charles D. and Sarah A. Tuell. He is a member of all the bodies of Free Masons in New Bedford, excepting the lodge, and of Union Lodge of Nantucket.
Captain Calvin G. Worth, the father of Henry B. Worth, was born in Nantucket, March 1, 1812. He married, in 1855, Helen B. Winslow, daughter of George Winslow and Love Barnard, of Nantucket. The children were Henry B. Worth and Helen B. W. Worth. The latter was born in 1861 and died in 1907. Captain Worth died in Nantucket in September, 1879, and his wife died in January, 19II.
Henry B. Worth's grandfather was William Worth, a blacksmith, born in Nantucket in 1763. He died in 1851. William Worth married Rebecca Gardiner in December, 1807. She was born in 1787 and died in 1841. William Worth was a Quaker. The children were Sophia, Mar- garet, Calvin, Thomas, William, Matthew and Lydia.
OTIS SEABURY COOK.
Otis Seabury Cook was born in New Bedford, July 30, 1873. His father, William Cook, was born in New Bedford in 1833, and died in 1876. For a time he was in business as a merchant tailor. In 1863 and 1864 he served in the Third Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteer Heavy Artil- lery, and was a first lieutenant at the time of his discharge for disability.
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William Cook was the son of Thomas Cook, who was born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1801, and died in New Bedford in 1890, having been for many years a well-known resident. Otis Seabury Cook's mother, Cornelia A. (Seabury) Cook, was born in New Bedford in 1836, the eldest daughter of Otis and Caroline A. (Bailey) Seabury, who was formerly of Little Compton, Rhode Island. Otis Seabury, born in Little Compton in 1808, died in 1880. He was one of New Bedford's prominent and highly respected citizens. William and Cornelia A. Cook were the parents of Clarence A., Elizabeth B. Mackie, Mary T. Stanton, Cornelia S. Abbott, and Otis Seabury Cook.
After attending the public schools and Friends' Academy in New Bedford, Otis Seabury Cook received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1896 at Harvard, and he was given the same degree from Boston Uni- versity in 1897. In 1896 he entered the office of Knowlton & Perry, and soon afterwards became a partner in the firm of Knowlton, Perry & Cook, with Attorney-General Hosea M. Knowlton and Arthur E. Perry, in the same offices now occupied by the firm of Cook, Brownell & Taber as their successors. Mr. Cook belongs to the American Bar Association and the Massachusetts State Bar Association, and since his graduation has been engaged in practice without interruption.
He has served in the school committee, and for years has been a trustee of the Free Public Library and of Friends' Academy. He is a director in several corporations; and with Morris R. Brownell, of Fair- haven, and Frederic H. Taber, of New Bedford, is counsel for numerous companies and interests. Mr. Cook was chairman of the organization committee of the New Bedford Morris Plan Company. For two years he was president of the Board of Trade and a national councillor of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. In 1917 he was one of the principals in forming the New Bedford Committee of One Hundred for public safety and war work; and in other ways has given freely of his time in seeking to promote civic welfare. Mr. Cook attends the Unitarian church. In politics he is an Independent Democrat, although not active in political affairs. He is a member of a number of clubs.
On December 13, 1899, in Ansonia, Connecticut, he married Kath- arine L. Mathews, formerly of New Bedford, the daughter of William H. and Catherine Treadway (Macomber) Mathews, then residing in Ansonia. Mr. Mathews was a manufacturer of copper products. Most of his life was spent in New Bedford, where he was engaged in business and took a lively interest in municipal affairs. He was the son of Captain John Mathews, a native of Devonshire, England, a shipmaster, who made his home in New Bedford from early youth. Catherine Treadway Mathews is a daughter of Captain John A. Macomber, of New Bedford, long interested in shipping. Mr. and Mrs. Cook have four children, namely : Seabury, Helen, Barbara and Cornelia.
Fredk . I. Stanton ,
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REV. FREDERICK SKIFF STANTON.
Music was the great talent possessed by Rev. Frederick S. Stanton, a man whose loving heart and sunny disposition made his life "one grand sweet song," which brought him in return the love and affection of all who came in contact with him. He was a regularly accredited minister of the Christian Advent church, and in evangelistic and pastoral work spent several years of his life, but during that period he kept up his music, finally resigning to devote himself to the composing and teach- ing of music. As a composer, his fame rests upon sacred music, hymns, songs and cantatas, although he published many concert, exercise and orchestra pieces. Many of his hymns are rendered in the churches of all denominations and brought him the high recommendation of musical authorities. Although he was a writer of hymns principally, his indi- vidual musical talent knew no bounds. After becoming a teacher of music in New Bedford he had large classes, and at one time he was instructing pupils on thirteen different instruments. He was self-edu- cated, and prepared for the ministry through self-study and the aid of ministerial friends, but his musical genius, so early and strongly devel- oped, was cultivated, and he held the degree, Bachelor of Music. But Mr. Stanton would have been a man of note in his circle had he never preached a sermon nor composed a hymn, for he possessed that wonder- ful faculty of attracting men to him, and through a life of practical daily Christian living retained the friends his ready smile and genial disposi- tion brought him. His life was a busy one and he had no affiliation with club or fraternity, his home being his haven of rest in his hours "off duty."
Rev. Frederick Skiff Stanton was born in New Bedford, Massachu- setts, December 27, 1857, and died in the city of his birth, October 1, 1915, a son of Henry and Charity C. (Skiff ) Stanton. Henry Stanton was a sea- faring man. He attended grammar school, but his school years ended early, his earnings being a source of great help to his widowed mother. His first position was with the Union Boot and Shoe Company, and later he was with Hathaway & Soule, shoe manufacturers of New Bed- ford. During these years he maintained courses of evening study, and becoming converted to the faith of the Christian Advent church he pre- pared for and was ordained a minister of that faith. He was twenty-six years of age when he began his ministerial work as an evangelist, and for some years his work was the upbuilding and strengthening of old churches, and organizing ones wherever the field seemed ripe for the harvest. He held services in tents, halls and in private homes during his years of evangelistic service, and found his work inspiring and blessed. He later was settled as pastor over the Christian Advent church at Hud- son Falls, New York, and from that church was transferred to the church at Lawrence, Massachusetts. He served these two churches with great acceptability for eight years. On December 24, 1896, the death of his
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mother-in-law, the wife of James G. Harding, long associated with Wood, Brightman & Company, of New Bedford, made his duty plain, and resigning from the ministry, he returned to New Bedford and Mr. Harding and Mr. Stanton's aged mother were henceforth the objects of the loving care of their son and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick S. Stanton.
The relinquishing of ministerial work gave Mr. Stanton his full time to devote to his musical work, although he had never ceased to use his talents freely while in the ministry. Neither did he now abandon church work, but during this period and for many years prior, totalling alto- gether twenty-one years of service, he was secretary of the Massachu- setts State Conference of his denomination. At the age of twenty-three he printed a religious song book in his home for the use of the children in the Sunday school, that being the commencement of a musical career which ended only with his death. He had sung, played and composed music for church needs all during his ministerial life, but in New Bed- ford he first used his gifts in the practical form of a profession. He organized classes in music, taught about every kind of instrument, gave lessons privately in any branch of music, wrote and published continu- ously, in fact, gave himself without reserve. This was hard, fatigning work, but his labors were greatly lessened from the fact that he was a natural musician and music literally flowed from him with almost uncon- scious effort. He wrote both libretto and score of cantatas, composed hymns, and set them to music, published many instrumental pieces, arranged for concert and orchestra, and taught pupils and classes inces- santly. His last work was the arrangement of seventeen voluntaries orchestral scores. While the amount of work he accomplished was prodigious, he was never other than most agreeable and companionable, his smile and his ready wit always driving away gloom or weariness. He loved his work and his fellowmen, and they loved him. That was his great reward, the love of his fellowmen, and most abundantly he reaped that which he sowed, kindly words and deeds. Finally the limit of his strength was reached, and the end of his useful life among men came, finding him ready. In speaking of Mr. Stanton, after his death, Rev. Charles H. Oliphant, pastor of the First Congregational Church at Methuen, said :
Had he enjoyed the early advantages (which he indeed showed so little need of) of liberal training, he would have been one of the notable men of the times. In him the sweetness of childhood was united with a maturity and strength of character seldom seen. His moral vigor, his determined and persistent pursuit of the ends he sought, his contagious merriment, and most of all, his rare sensitiveness to spiritual values of every kind, made him a most lovable and unusual man.
Mr. Stanton married, October 13, 1880, Mary Althea Harding, who survives him, daughter of James G. Harding, of New Bedford. Mr. and Mrs. Stanton were the parents of three children, all deceased.
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JAMES EDWIN BRIERLY, C. S. D.
In 1887 James Edwin Brierly came to New Bedford. He was a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, of Boston, the Mother Church, and a graduate of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College in Boston, presided over by Mary Baker Eddy, its founder. The addition of one family to the thousands already there is a trivial matter, but the coming of Mr. and Mrs. Brierly was the "little matter which kindleth a great fire." He was then, as now, an accredited practitioner and author- ized teacher under his degree, C. S., D., Doctor of Christian Science, and came to New Bedford, a city then without a church of his faith and a most inviting field to a believer in Christ's command to "go preach the Gospel and heal the sick." From the efforts of Mr. Brierly and his de- voted wife sprang the First Church of Christ, Scientist, of New Bedford, whose church edifice at the corner of Mill and County streets was erected without a pledge or subscription from anyone, all of its cost, $31,000, having been dropped in the collection plates on Sunday morn- ings. The congregation at each service makes a goodly showing, and five practitions carry their cards in the Christian Science Journal from New Bedford, which fact is proof that they are duly authorized. All of this is a result of the coming of James E. Brierly, thirty years ago.
James Edwin Brierly was born in Milbury, Massachusetts, April 12, 1852, son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Hoyle) Brierly, both his parents born in England. Joseph Brierly came to Milbury, Massachusetts, with his parents and became a cotton mill worker in charge of a department. In Milbury he married Elizabeth Hoyle, who had likewise come from Eng- land with her parents. Joseph Brierly died in Worcester, Massachu- setts. James Brierly, father of Joseph Brierly, was born in England and he died in Milbury.
James E. Brierly grew up in Milbury, was educated in the grammar and high schools there, finishing with a course at a business college in Worcester, Massachusetts. He began business life as clerk in a book store in Worcester, there continuing seven years. He then established a retail book, stationery and jewelry store at Birmingham, now Derby, Connecticut, a business which he conducted for ten years. There he terminated his career as a merchant, the change coming to him unex- pectedly, but the call was so insistent and came to him so naturally that it was heeded.
Mr. Brierly had been reared under the influences of the Congrega- tional church, but after his marriage he identified himself with the Meth- odist Episcopal, the church of which Mrs. Brierly was a follower. Chris- tian Science came into their lives through the serious illness of Mrs. Brierly, a practitioner of that faith having been called in at the eleventh hour with a result that recovery followed. Such convincing proof could not be disregarded, and both Mr. and Mrs. Brierly gave their allegiance to the old-new faith. With the revelation of God's power which was so
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clearly demonstrated to him in the healing of his wife, a desire came to Mr. Brierly to know more of this truth which sets men free, and with that knowledge came a resolve to spread the "glad tidings" and to devote his life to the practice of the Science of living and healing as taught in the Bible, and "Science and Health" by Mary B. Eddy. In preparation therefor he became a member of a class at Massachusetts Metaphysical College, personally taught by Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the College and author of "Science and Health," the text book of the denomination, that book and the Bible the only preachers allowed in Christian Science churches. After the completion of his first course he located his home in Worcester, Massachusetts, there practicing Christian Science about fif- teen months In January, 1887, New Bedford being without a practi- tioner or a church devoted to Christian Science, he located in that city and began the work of creating an interest in a religion without creed, a religion which demonstrates its power at all times, everywhere, a reli- gion such as all believe once existed, but which Christian Scientists be- lieve is as potent to-day as ever.
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