USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > History of New Bedford, Volume III > Part 25
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fond of children, and when they came to his own home he was the hap- piest of men. He had few interests outside the bank and his home, and there his memory is yet green.
Mr. Howland married, June 3, 1851, Lucy C. Congdon, daughter of James B. Congdon, who died October 8, 1867. He married (second) October 29, 1872, Clara E. Kempton, daughter of Horatio A. Kempton, who died August 15, 1879. He married (third) November 16, 1882, Eliz- abeth T. Kempton, sister of his second wife. Peleg C. Howland and his second wife, Clara E. (Kempton) Howland, were the parents of two daughters and a son: Elizabeth Kempton Howland, an accomplished musician of New Bedford; Horatio Kempton Howland, died June I, 1915; and Clara Earle Howland, who married Joseph Cornell Nowell, they are the parents of Joseph C., Jr., and Elizabeth H. Nowell.
HORATIO A. KEMPTON.
There were many reasons why the memory of Horatio A. Kempton should be kept green in New Bedford, for he was one of the leading pub- lic men of his day, and was known as "the father of the school commit- tec," his service on that board covering a period of thirty-five years. When New Bedford laid down her town form of government in 1847, Mr. Kempton was a member of the board of selectmen, and in the new city government, inaugurated the same year, he was overseer of the poor. Horatio A. Kempton was a son of Ephraim (6) Kempton, born in 1789, died August 19, 1863. He married, August 25, 1811, Mary Hillman, who died leaving a son, Horatio A., and a daughter, Mary H., the latter born June 30, 1823.
This branch of the Kempton family in America, of which Horatio A. Kempton was of the eighth generation, springs from Ephraim Kemp- ton, who appeared in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1643. There he was listed as "able to bear arms," but the erasing of his name indicates that he was found to be either too old or too infirm. It is not known when he came to Plymouth, but he is not mentioned in the division of cattle in 1627. He died in May, 1645. He had a son, Ephraim (2) Kempton, born in England, and who married Joanna Rawlins, in Scituate, Massachu- setts. Their son, Ephraim (3) Kempton, born October 1, 1649, married Mary, daughter of John Reeves, of Salem. They were the parents of Ephraim (4) Kempton, born in 1674, and who married, in 1702, Patience, daughter of Elder Thomas Faunce. He was a goldsmith in Boston, at one time, but late in life moved to Plymouth. In the next generation Thomas Kempton, son of Ephraim (4) and Patience (Faunce) Kempton, was born in 1705, married Esther Troop in 1730, and moved to Dart- mouth, Massachusetts. Their son was Ephraim (5) Kempton, born May 26, 1745, died January 25, 1802. He married, May 8, 1774, Elizabeth Tupper, who died November 29, 1848, aged ninety-five years. They were
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the parents of Ephraim (6) Kempton, of previous mention, father of Horatio A. Kempton, to whose memory this review is offered.
Horatio A. Kempton was born June 27, 1812, and died in New Bed- ford, Massachusetts, November 2, 1885. He was a man of education and intellectual vigor, his business life being principally spent in the lumber business. He was a selectman of the town, an overseer of the poor under the city charter, and in 1863-64 represented New Bedford in the State Legislature. For thirty-five years his interest in education kept him on the school committee, and to him a great deal of the credit is due for the high plane of efficiency attained by the schools of his period. He bore his part in life well, was a kind-hearted, courteous gentleman, and had a host of friends, who appreciated his manly characteristics and the high quality of his citizenship.
Horatio A. Kempton married, September 21, 1841, Caroline Newhall Thornton, who was born in Leicester, Massachusetts, July 15, 1814, and who died September 11, 1862. They were the parents of: 1. Clara Earle, born November 27, 1844, died August 15, 1879; married, October 29, 1872, Peleg C. Howland. 2. Mary, born March 27, 1848, died August 29, 1851. 3. Elizabeth Thornton, born November 1, 1850, died March 7, 1896; married, November 16, 1882, Peleg C. Howland. 4. Jane Delano, born January 3, 1854, died February 12, 1868.
WALTER HAMER LANGSHAW.
As the head and a large owner in a great manufacturing corporation, Mr. Langshaw reviews a life of well directed effort, constantly increasing in value to the corporations he serves. He has won his way through merit, each promotion from the bottom upward coming only after it had been well earned. His career in New Bedford began in 1891, in the Po- tomska Mills, in charge of a department, and nine years later, in 1900, he became the dominating spirit in the Dartmouth Manufacturing Cor- poration, and president of the corporation. He takes a keen interest in public matters, particularly economics, and has made a very thorough study of the tariff question. His views on the latter question have been different from those of many of his contemporaries and have caused con- siderable discussion. In 1913 he issued a pamphlet stating his experience because of his attitude on the tariff, the protective feature of which has been perverted to suit the purpose of certain special interests. He also submitted a brief to the Committee on Ways and Means, 1913, on the cotton schedule. These two pamphlets, which taken together form an enlightening treatise on the salient points of the tariff situation, present in a forceful manner the conclusions of which Mr. Langshaw has arrived at as the result of years of special study of a wide experience as a manu- facturer, with the practical workings of the tariff measure in effect dur- ing the past quarter of a century. Holding that protection is necessary for the development of industries in which skilled labor is required in
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quantity, that moderate tariff on any article is not a burden on the people provided it is manufactured in quantities proportionate to normal market requirements, and that its manufacturing is not of a kind that excludes men of limited capital, he believes that a moderate reduction in the tariff, intelligently applied, would be beneficial rather than detrimental to the industrial and commercial development of the country, and has for a number of years favored such a reduction.
Walter H. Langshaw was born at Eagley, near Bolton, England, in 1859, his paternal and maternal ancestors for many years residents of Lancashire, the records of the family extending back to the year 1570. Cotton manufacturing was a family business, a Langshaw founding the Eagley Mills in 1790. At the age of seven years Walter Langshaw was brought to the United States by his parents, there locating in Lawrence, Massachusetts, moving to Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1872, but re- turning to Lawrence in 1874. In all these changes the lad had a part, and from his ninth year was employed in cotton mills. He continued a mill worker in Lawrence from the return in 1874 until 1887, then went to a Rhode Island cotton mill in charge of a small department. Four years later, in 1891, he came to New Bedford to take charge of a large depart- ment of the Potomska Mills. During the ensuing four years he gained such high reputation that at the incorporation of the Dartmouth Mills, in 1895, he was engaged as superintendent. In 1898 he was elected a direc- tor, and in 1900 became the head of the corporation. The three mills of the company are located in the South End, the capitalization is $2,600,- 000; twenty-two hundred hands are employed; two hundred thousand spindles and fifty-eight hundred looms turning out an enormous quantity of plain and fancy fine cotton goods. Over all Mr. Langshaw is the executive, agent, and controlling spirit. The success of the corporation is a matter of comment in the textile world. From 1896 to 1917 the re- turn to the original shareholder selling out at the market value shows an average return for twenty years of forty-five per cent., this result being accomplished in open competition in the same field for machinery and labor. This thoroughly establishes Mr. Langshaw as one of the practical mill executives who, from personal knowledge and experience, direct their corporations wisely. He was also for some years president of the Bristol Manufacturing Corporation of New Bedford, a million dollar cot- ton manufacturing company, operating sixty-three thousand spindles, and eighteen hundred and sixty-six looms, employing eight hundred and twenty hands in manufacturing cotton and silk goods. He has other business interests of importance widely separated. He is president of W. H. Langshaw & Company, of No. 346 Broadway, New York City ; a director of the Massachusetts Trust Company of Boston; and director of the Liberty Insurance Company of Boston.
He has not sought the sordid in life, but has catered to the finer side of his nature, particularly his talent and love for music. When little
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more than a boy, he was organist of St. John's Episcopal Church of Lawrence, and in the different cities to which his business took him he often acted in that capacity. He is a patron of art, and one of the trus- tees of the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachu- setts. He is a member of the Massachusetts Alliance of Manufacturers and Employers Associations, National Association of Manufacturers, National Economic League, North American Civic League, Massachu- setts Forestry Association, American Economic Association, and the Royal Colonial Institute. His clubs show the wide range of his tastes, and the recreations which most appeal to him are: Beverly Yacht of Marion, Massachusetts ; Boston Athletic; Country of Brookline, of New Bedford and Rhode Island; Megantic Fish and Game of Maine; New Bedford Rod and Reel; Tin Whistle of Pinehurst of North Carolina; also other clubs; the Algonquin of Boston; Arkwright of Boston; Brooks ; Episcopalian of Boston ; Merchants of New York ; Rocky Moun- tain of New York; Royal Colonial Institute; Seapuit of Cape Cod; Southern New England Textile; Victorian of Boston; and the Wam- sutta of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He is also a member of St. George's Society, and of Grecian Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Mr. Langshaw married (first) August 23, 1884, Sarah Elizabeth Mahan, of Andover, Massachusetts, who died in 1896, leaving sons : Walter Seymour, assistant agent and director of the Dartmouth Manu- facturing Corporation ; Albert Colburn, of W. H. Langshaw & Com- pany, No. 346 Broadway, New York City. Mr. Langshaw married (sec- ond) June 23, 1898, Elizabeth Wilkinson, of New Bedford, they the par- ents of a daughter, Eunice, and a son, Richard.
THOMAS MERIAM STETSON.
In a memorial prepared in honor of the memory of his former col- league at the bar, Charles W. Clifford said of Mr. Stetson: "He was unquestionably the ablest lawyer of his time in Southeastern Massachu- setts, and would have measured up well to the standards of the ablest lawyers of the country. Judge Bennett, Judge Marston, and Judge Mor- ton were superior to him in certain lines of professional work, but no one was his equal in pure mental legal ability. To a mind of the highest legal acumen, and stored with the fullest knowledge of legal principles, and the history of their evolution, through decided cases, and statutory enactment, he added impressive physique and a voice of marvelous power and effectiveness. His conduct of trial was masterly, presenting his evidence with the utmost telling force and meeting that of his ad- versary with consummate skill. His industry and marvelous attention to detail in the preparation of his cases kept his opponent in ignorance of the pitfalls which lay before him until the psychological moment for
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their disclosure. His arguments were examples of strong and beautiful language, graced by apposite quotations and the keenest wit. Abso- lutely refusing to be diverted from his entire allegiance to the law as his life work by the allurements of other fields where his great gifts would have made him preeminent, he will be remembered as the embodiment of the highest type of pure lawyer. Perhaps the most distinguished honor Mr. Stetson ever received was his invitation to preside at the Cen- tennial Celebration of the Battle of Lexington, at Lexington, at which were assembled the highest officials of the commonwealth and nation, President Grant being a guest. The house in Lexington which belonged to Mr. Stetson's mother's ancestors is the one referred to in all accounts of the battle of Lexington as the 'Buckman Tavern' and contains sev- eral bullet holes received in the battle. Any memorial of Mr. Stetson which omitted mention of his charming personality in personal life would be absolutely deficient. His great fund of knowledge, his keen and bril- liant wit, and his flow of language made him a rare conversationalist."
Such was the estimate placed upon the mental qualities of Thomas M. Stetson by one of his contemporaries and one often his antagonist. This was also the concensus of New Bedford opinion and quite naturally and rightfully he came by his intellectual attainment. He was the son of a minister, the Rev. Caleb Stetson, and his mother, Julia Ann (Meriam) Stetson, was a fitting companion for her ministerial husband. Rev. Caleb Stetson was a lineal descendant of Cornet Robert Stetson, who settled in Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1634, and took an active part in King Philip's War. His title of Cornet came from his rank in the first company of horse raised in Plymouth Colony.
The descent of Thomas Meriam Stetson from this first American ancestor of the family is as follows: Cornet Robert Stetson, who was born in the County of Kent, England, in 1613, died February 1, 1702, in Plymouth, Massachusetts ; he left a son, Thomas Stetson, who was born December 1I, 1643 ; his son, Elisha Stetson, was born in March, 1684; he left a son, Elisha Stetson, who was born April 26, 1718, and died August 28, 1803. The son of the second Elisha Stetson was Captain Thomas Stetson, who was born March 9, 1752, and died in 1820. His son was the Rev. Caleb Stetson, who was born July 12, 1793, and died in 1871 ; and his son was Thomas M. Stetson, of this review.
Thomas Meriam Stetson was born in Medford, Massachusetts, June 15, 1830, and died in New Bedford, Massachusetts, February 10, 1916, aged eighty-five years, seven months and twenty-five days. He prepared for college and entered Harvard University, whence he was graduated in the class of 1849, going thence to Dane Law School, Harvard University. Immediately after his admission to the bar, in 1854, he began practice in New Bedford and had the rare good fortune to be invited to join one of the oldest law firms in the State, a firm established about the time its newly admitted partner was born, by Lemuel Williams and Judge Charles Henry Warren, and afterward known as Warren & Eliot. In
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1854, when the young lawyer was admitted to the Bristol county bar, the firm was Eliot & Pitman, the senior partner a Congressman absent much of the time in Washington, the junior member, Judge Robert C. Pitman, of the Superior Court. Hence the necessity for a third partner who could devote himself constantly to the firm business. With Mr. Stetson's admission the firm became Eliot, Pitman & Stetson, but upon the withdrawal of Judge Pitman a few years later, the name was changed to Eliot & Stetson, and so continued until the death of Mr. Eliot in 1870. Mr. Stetson practiced alone for a time, but later admitted Francis B. Greene to a partnership, they practicing as Stetson & Greene. Later Mr. Stetson was associated in legal practice with Lemuel Le B. Holmes, and Eliot D. Stetson, his son. At the present time the firm is Stetson & Stet- son, its members being Eliot D. Stetson and Frederick D. Stetson, sons of Thomas M. Stetson.
Mr. Stetson's rise in the law was rapid and very soon he was rank- ing among the leaders at the Bristol bar. As a pure lawyer in mastery of the great principles of law, in his wealth of legal and other learning, in his exhaustive preparation of his cases in the courts, he had no superior in Southeastern Massachusetts. Among the celebrated cases with which he was connected, and in which his legal ability was thoroughly tested was the famous Howland will case, one of the most remarkable litiga- tions in the history of the bar. Mr. Stetson, Mr. Eliot, his partner, and Benjamin F. Thomas, who had but a short time before resigned from the Massachusetts Superior Court bench, secured to the city of New Bedford those bequests under the will of Sylvia Ann Howland, the Free Library, and the water supply fund left to the city. Mr. Stetson was counsel for the city of New Bedford in the subject of the water works, and was also retained as counsel by Bristol county when it was building the Fairhaven bridge. He was also counsel for the Board of Trade in compelling the restoration of the Fairhaven Ferry.
Never lured from his profession by the attraction of power, position or gain, Mr. Stetson acquired interests in New Bedford's business world, including the First National Bank, and the Morse Twist Drill and Ma- chine Company, both of which he served as director. He was similarly associated with some of the cotton mills of the city and in all his trained legal mind was invaluable to the board of directors on which he sat. He was a lover of nature, delighting in the out-of-doors and at his large Ash street home rare trees, shrubs and flowers attested to his love for the beautiful, while his greenhouses, under the management of William Keith, developed strange and curious forms of vegetables, fruit and plant life. There fig, banana and orange trees grew, century plants flourished and lovely orchids grew and lordly palm trees waved their feathered fronds. It was amid such surroundings that his hours of leisure of the best years of his life were passed and when old age came on and he walked amid greatly lengthened shadows the beauties of his
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home were his solace and his comfort. He was a member of the Uni- tarian church and was all his life a regular church attendant.
Mr. Stetson married, September 10, 1856, Caroline Dawes Eliot, daughter of Thomas Dawes and Frances L. (Brock) Eliot, of Nantucket. Mr. and Mrs. Stetson were the parents of: Julia M., who married Dr. Leroy Milton Yale, of New York City ; Eliot D. and Frederick D., of the law firm of Stetson & Stetson; Dr. Frank E .; and Edward M.
THOMAS JEFFERSON COBB.
All the years of the useful life of Thomas Jefferson Cobb were spent in some form of public service, and all but the four years as secretary to Governor Crapo, of Michigan, were spent in his native city of New Bedford as deputy sheriff, and in semi-legal business, notably as a com- missioner in the taking of testimony relating to the Alabama claims, as lawyer's clerk, and clerk of the Third District Court, 1873 until his death. He was a duly admitted member of the Bristol county bar, pass- ing the required examination very creditably, although his years of ex- perience with courts and lawyers, rather than law books, had prepared him. At one time he acted as clerk for District Attorney Marston, and under that brilliant lawyer Mr. Cobb became an expert in legal forms and verbiage. It was said of him that he had no superior as a drawer of indictments, and very few of those drawn by him were ever success- fully attacked. His documents were models of neatness and precision, and he had little patience with officials or lawyers who presented indict- ments or legal papers to the court, loosely or improperly prepared. His expertness was known and commented upon by the legal fraternity all over the State, and during his twenty-one years administration of the office of clerk of the District Court, system, neatness and exactness ruled in every detail. He was prompt in the performances of every duty, cour- teous always, and entirely impartial, mindful only of the interest of the individual seeking his services. Efficiency always distinguished him, and to his sterling qualities as an official he added these strong attributes which mark the man of force and character. In disposition pleasant, genial and obliging ; he made many friends and although fond of caustic repartee, his raillery was so good natured that no offence could be taken, as none was intended.
Thomas Jefferson Cobb was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, July 15, 1844, died in his native city, October 29, 1902, son of William S. Cobb, a wholesale ship chandler or outfitter of New Bedford, sheriff of Bristol county for several years, and one of the strong men of his day. Thomas J. Cobb began his education in New Bedford public schools, and after completing the courses entered Pierce Academy at Middleboro, Massachusetts. In 1863, at the age of nineteen, he went to Flint, Michi- gan, remaining there four years as private and military secretary to Henry H. Crapo, Governor of the State, a former resident of New Bed-
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ford, and father of William W. Crapo. The position he held as military secretary constituted him a member of the Governor's staff, and gave him the rank of major.
After returning to New Bedford, the young man was appointed by his father, the sheriff of the county, as one of his deputies, an office he held for several years under his successor, Andrew R. Wright, other deputy sheriffs of that period being John W. Nickerson and Horatio N. Kimball. In 1872 Mr. Cobb was a candidate for the then elective office of clerk of the city police court, and in 1873 he was elected a member of common council. In 1874, while still a deputy sheriff, he was ap- pointed commissioner to take testimony in the court of commissioners of Alabama claims. The testimony taken covered thousands of pages writ- ten in long hand, the work done by Mr. Cobb being particularly accurate and legible and completed promptly. He also acted as clerk for District Attorney Marston, and under his instruction became the expert drafter of indictments and other criminal processes. After Mr. Knowlton suc- ceeded to the district attorney's office, Mr. Cobb continued as his clerk. In 1881 Mr. Sanford, clerk of the Third District Court of Bristol county, died, and Mr. Cobb was appointed to succeed him. His administration of that office is a model for all court clerks, and so satisfactory was it to the bench and bar of that day that for twenty-one years he held the office by successive appointments, only death creating a vacancy.
Through his long connection with courts and lawyers, Mr. Cobb became so well informed that in January, 1896, he passed a successful bar examination and was admitted to practice. This privilege availed himself to a limited extent, although during the term of Andrew J. Jennings as district attorney he served as his assistant most ably and satisfactory. He became one of the best known court officers in the State, and among court clerks was preeminent as a drawer of indictments and complaints. While acting as assistant to H. M. Knowlton and George Marston, district attorneys, he had charge of drawing some of the weightiest indictments in the jurisdiction, notably the Lizzie A. Borden indictment for the murder of her father.
He was a member of the Bar Association and of the Masonic order, a Republican in politics, and an attendant of Trinitarian (Congrega- tional) Church. His funeral service was largely attended, particularly by his brethren of the bar, three of the pallbearers being justices of the Third District Court-Frank A. Milliken, James L. Gilingham, A. Edwin Clarke ; the fourth being a court officer, Lemuel D. Adams. He is buried in Rural Cemetery.
Mr. Cobb married, in Flint, Michigan, September 1, 1870, Phebe A. Hamilton, who survives him with their two daughters-Mrs. William W. Gardner, of Touissett, Massachusetts; Elizabeth H., assistant clerk in the Third District Court of Bristol county ; mother and daughter reside at No. 78 Bedford street.
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FRANK HERBERT GIFFORD.
After graduation from Brown University in 1881, Mr. Gifford, scion of an ancient and honorable New Bedford family, eminent in official and public life, made his entrance into business life as a mill engineer in the city of Providence, Rhode Island. Returning to New Bedford in 1882, he has been actively connected with the manufacturing interests of the city, but since 1899 as a cotton salesman. He is a son of Charles Henry Gifford, twelfth postmaster of New Bedford, and a grandson of William Gifford, one of the olden time business men of New Bedford known as "whaling merchants." The family traces from ancient Puritan stock, the ancestor, William Gifford, a member of the Society of Friends, who came to Plymouth, Massachusetts, prior to 1650.
William Gifford, of the sixth generation, died in New Bedford, March 24, 1866, a quiet, forceful man of business, who was long remem- bered as one of the upright, rugged, kindly-hearted men of his day, who were a product of the peculiar business in which they were engaged- whaling. He had been in business in Savannah, Georgia, for seven years prior to settling in New Bedford, although he was an old Dart- mouth boy. He clung to the religious faith and customs of his father's, wore the plain garb, and used the same speech peculiar to the Society of Friends. He married Rhoda Tucker, of an old Dartmouth (Massa- chusetts) family, who died in December, 1891, surviving her husband a quarter of a century. They were the parents of Lucretia T .; Charles Henry, of further mention ; Mary T., and Elizabeth Gifford.
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