USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > History of New Bedford, Volume III > Part 4
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are competitors that nothing in the way of an illuminant could hope to vanquish. So he belongs to the new era as well as to the old, and as registrar of the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Company he is vitally concerned in the operation of one of New Bedford's most modern corporations, one who under ground, under water and over head delivers power, heat and light all over this section of Massachusetts.
Charles Hammond Vinal was born in New Bedford, July 29, 1859. He was educated in the public schools of the city, finishing with high school graduation. He began business life as clerk with Pratt & Alley, grocers, and for ten years remained with that firm, advancing to respon- sible position. He then engaged in the grocery business with a partner, and as Vinal & Tuell conducted a store for five years, then Mr. Vinal sold his interest to his partner and retired. For a time thereafter he was in the employ of the New Bedford Institution for Savings, but in April, 1887, resigned to enter the employ of the New Bedford Gas Company as head and only bookkeeper at that time. When the gas and electric con- solidation took effect in 1890, and the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Company resulted, Mr. Vinal was appointed registrar, a position he yet fills most acceptably. A Republican in politics, Mr. Vinal has since the organization of a cemetery commission as a part of the city gov- ernment been a member of the commission. For three years he was a member of the Common Council, and at all times he has been the deeply interested, public-spirited citizen. He is a member of Star in the East Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of which for seventeen years he has been secretary ; is an Odd Fellow, member of the Stetson, Dartmouth and Yacht clubs of New Bedford.
Mr. Vinal married (first) in New Bedford, Marion J. Hamblin, of Foxboro, Massachusetts. He married (second) Marianna Veeder, born April 11, 1858, at Nantucket, Massachusetts, daughter of Charles A. Veeder, of New York, who died in the Society Islands, and his wife, Susan C. (Austin) Veeder, who died in New Bedford. Children: I. Elwin S., born in New Bedford, April 2, 1886, now residing in East Seattle, Washington, connected with the Bend Park Company, who are promoting the building of the city of Bend, in Central Oregon ; he mar- ried Grace Tripp, daughter of George H. Tripp, librarian of New Bed- ford Public Library. 2. Elise, born in New Bedford, August 11, 1892, graduate of high school, now a student at Bridgewater. The family resi- dence is No. 103 Summer street.
ARTHUR C. PUTNAM.
Born in New York City, but taken thence by his parents to Nashua, New Hampshire, Mr. Putnam has practically spent his entire life in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, coming to New Bedford in 1907, after having spent a few months in Maryland with his father, who
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was then living at Mariottsville. Since 1910 he has been chief engineer at the Nashawena Mills, a corporation employing one thousand and eight hundred hands, operating one hundred and forty-five thousand spindles and three thousand and eight hundred looms in the manufacture of plain and fancy cotton and jacquard silk novelties. Over all engineering prob- lems and operations, Mr. Putnam is supreme, and that department is as well managed as the others, which in combination have placed the Nashawena in the front rank of cotton mills. He is a son of John B. and Aurelia Putnam, his father a manufacturer. In 1882 the family moved to Nashua, New Hampshire, where John B. Putnam engaged in the manufacture of soapstone slate of varied form, later he moved to Perkinsville, Vermont, thence to Mariottsville, Maryland, thence to Jettyville, Virginia.
Arthur C. Putnam was born in New York City, October 25, 1877, and five years later was taken by his parents to Nashua, New Hamp- shire, where he attended the grade and high schools until graduated from high school in 1895, at the age of eighteen. He then began his business career, and after the removal of the family to Perkinsville, Vermont, be- came associated with his father in the quarrying and manufacture of soapstone. He remained with him three years, then went with the Metropolitan Water Works, at Framingham, Massachusetts, being con- nected with the engineering department of the works for ten years. He then spent a few months in Maryland, with his father, entering the em- ploy of the Bristol Mill in New Bedford, in 1907, as assistant engineer. Two years later, on the completion of the Nashawena Mill, he was appointed chief engineer of that plant and has held that position since. He is a member of Pacific Lodge, Encampment, Canton, New Bedford Patriarchs Militant, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the National Society of Engineers ; the First Baptist Church, and politically is a Re- publican.
He married, in 1908, Jessie Hunter Burton, daughter of John L. Bur- ton, of the Nashawena Mills, whose career is also traced in this work. Mrs. Putnam, died in 1914, leaving a daughter, Janet, born in 1909.
JEREMIAH FRANCIS SULLIVAN.
When Jeremiah Sullivan left his home in Ireland and brought his family to the United States, he intended to make it his permanent home. He was employed in railroading and remained several years, but finally the love for the "Old Sod" overcame and he returned to his Irish home, there living the remainder of his days. But his son, Cornelius F. Sulli- van, born in Ireland and brought to the United States by his father, remained in his adopted land until death, and proved his right to ctitzen- ship and his appreciation of the honor it conferred by offering his life, if need be, in defence of the flag which had become his. He enlisted in
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Company F, Fifth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry, in 1861, and served until the war closed in 1865, saw service in North and South Carolina under Burnside and others, returning with an honorable dis- charge and the scars of a wound received in battle. By trade he was a millwright. Cornelius F. Sullivan married Mary Dillon, also born in Ireland, but married in New Bedford, in St. Lawrence Church. Both are now deceased, but their two children, Jeremiah F., of further mention, and Mary Sullivan are both residing in New Bedford.
Jeremiah Francis Sullivan, only son of Cornelius I. and Mary (Dillon) Sullivan, was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, September 23, 1875, and until fifteen years of age attended St. Joseph's Parochial School, and the public grammar school. He began business life by working in a grocery store for a few months, then entered the employ of his uncle, Jeremiah D. Sullivan, who was an undertaker in New Bed- ford. He remained with his uncle sixteen years and eight months, be- coming an expert in the care of the dead and in funeral direction. On April 1, 1907, he opened an undertaking establishment at No. 594 Pur- chase street, and there remained as funeral director and embalmer until 1911, when he removed to No. 1546 Purchase street, continuing in the same business to date (1918). In politics Mr. Sullivan is a Democrat, and in religious faith connected with the Church of the Holy Name (Roman Catholic). He is a member of the Holy Name Society; the Plymouth Club ; the Massachusetts Catholic Order of Foresters; New Bedford Court of Foresters of America: New Bedford Lodge, No. 73. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; New Bedford Aerie, No. 647, Fraternal Order of Eagles; the Knights of Columbus, Division No. 9; Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the Loyal Order of Moose.
Mr. Sullivan married, in Taunton, Massachusetts, June 15, 1904, Annie A. McGinty, daughter of John and Hannah (Howe) McGinty.
NAPOLEON BEAULIEU.
A son of John and Philomene (Allaire) Beaulieu, a business man of Lawrence, Massachusetts, Napoelon Beaulieu, one of their six sons to reach manhood, became a mill worker at the age of twelve years, and in one New Bedford Mill alone, the Grinnell, has a record of twenty years service. He has been since 1910 overseer of the Nonquitt Spinning Company, in whose two mills, fourteen hundred hands, operating one hundred and ninety-five thousand spindles, produce combed cotton yarns. When he went with the company seven years ago, the company were operating seventy thousand spindles. But it is not alone as a mill worker that Mr. Beaulieu is well known to New Bedford, but for years he has taken an unusual interest in civic affairs, especially in the cause of education, he being a very useful member of the New Bedford School Board and of the board of trustees of the Industrial School.
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Napoleon Beaulieu was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Novem- ber 22, 1866, and there spent his youth, attending St. Hyacinthe's Parachial School until beginning mill work at the age of twelve. He was a worker in the mills at Lowell at that age and from the bottom worked his way through various promotions to his present post. In 1883 he came to New Bedford, working in the mill during daytime, at- tending evening high school, becoming proficient in mechanical draw- ing. For twenty years he was employed in the Grinnell Mills, going to the Bulter Mill in 1902, going thence to the Gosnold Mills, where he remained until 1910, when he became overseer at the Nonquitt Mills. He is thoroughly equipped for the position he holds, is trusted by his fellow workmen and possesses the confidence and the respect of those above him in official rank. In 1910 Mr. Beaulieu organized a branch of the L'Independent Publishing Company of Fall River, a company of which he is president. "L'Independent" is a very popular newspaper, printed in French, and has a wide New England circulation. He is a Republican in politics, and since 1908 has been a member of the School Poard, his term expiring on January 1, 1919. He is also a member of the board of trustees of the Industrial School, his term expiring in 1918. He is a useful member of both boards and conscientiously performs the duties assigned him. He is also a director of the Sasaquin Sanitarium. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church, the Loretto and Tremont clubs. In 1915 Mr. Beaulieu organized the Educational Club of Home Study, taking boys of sixteen up from the mills and giving them the opportunity of home study, furnishing text books and instructors without charge. This was a most commendable effort and Mr. Beaulieu deserves great credit for the success of the movement.
Mr. Beaulieu married in New Bedford, March 22, 1890, Rose Barri- teau, born in Lowell, Massachusetts, daughter of Antoine and Ederst (Marcil) Barriteau. Mr. and Mrs. Beaulieu's only child born in Decem- ber, 1891, died the following year.
HERBERT E. WALMSLEY.
Although for two years prior to his death, Herbert E. Walmsley was retired from his position as agent of the Wamsutta Mills, he could not surrender nor has death taken from him the distinction of being one of the most distinguished men in the textile manufacturing busi- ness. The post he held with the Wamsutta Mills may properly be considered the most important one in the United States, carried great prestige, and could only be filled by a man of deep knowledge of the cotton industry in all its phases. That knowledge Mr. Walmsley possessed in a superlative degree, his wisdom being of the most prac- tical kind, gained during many years of textile mill service and
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management, which began when he was a lad of fifteen. Eleven years of his life were spent in developing the cotton spinning industry in Russia. The remarkable development of the cotton manufacturing in- dustry in Russia was accelerated and encouraged under his inspiration and influence, and for years he was assistant manager of the largest textile mill in the world. After his Russian experience he was sent to India to investigate and report on the cotton industry, but the climate was unfit for his constitution and nothing of moment was accomplished there. Then came his transition to the American field of labor and success. His ten years as superintendent of the great Clark Thread Mills of Newark, New Jersey, included the period of the greatest strike the plant ever passed through, yet so well and justly did Mr. Walmsley manage affairs that one of his treasured belongings was a framed testi- monial given him by the Clark operatives when he retired from that position to accept another with the Wamsutta Mill. Perhaps it was an opinion held before, perhaps the experiences of the Clark strike im- pressed it, but it was his thorough belief that it is good common busi- ness sense to pay the very best wages a mill can afford, leaving the humanitarian standpoint out of the calculation entirely.
Mr. Walmsley was warmly welcomed in New Bedford, where his reputation had preceded him. He continued in official relation with the Wamsutta Mills until 1915, and became a high authority upon tex- tile manufacturing practices. His personal achievement as a manufac- turer was high, and there came from his pen works which greatly en- riched the literature of the cotton industry. Equally notable were his addresses before gatherings of textile men, and he was a well known figure wherever cotton manufacturers gathered. He was one of the most distinguished men of the business, and was highly regarded per- sonally.
Herbert E. Walmsley, son of Dr. Francis Walmsley, a skilled physician of Manchester, England, was born in Manchester, England, January 27, 1854, and died in New Bedford, Massachusetts, June 14, 1917. His brothers prepared for professional careers, but Herbert E. was strongly inclined toward a business life, and at the age of fifteen he left school to begin work at a cotton mill in Stockport, near Man- chester. He spent six years in that mill, and at the age of twenty-one was thoroughly equipped and eligible to any managerial position in any department of cotton manufacturing. He rose rapidly in reputa- tion and rank, the most important part of his English life being his selection by large Russian financial interests to develop cotton spinning in Russia.
When he left England to accept this post, he went direct to Narva, a town of Russia, on Neva river, nine miles from the mouth, in the gulf of Finland and eighty-one miles from Petrogad. The falls of the river furnished water power which attracted manufacturers, and there for six years Mr. Walmsley, as assistant manager, virtually controlled the
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destinies ot the largest mill in the world, with half a million spindles. At the end of the six years he accepted a position in another section, and near Moscow he spent five years as manager of a cotton mill. This completed his Russian engagement, a connection from which all con- cerned had greatly profited. He returned to England to accept a com- mission from Dobson & Barlow, machinery builders of Bolton, England, to investigate the cotton industry in India, but after six months he re- turned to England, unable to endure the Indian climate.
His reputation had crossed the seas, and he was offered the superin- tendency of the Clark Thread Company at Newark, New Jersey, a posi- tion he held ten years. From Newark he came to New Bedford as agent for the Wamsutta Mills, a position from which he retired in 1915. He was in poor health then and afterward, although he aided in some mill promotions in New Bedford. But his work was finished. and the end soon came.
As a writer and platform speaker, Mr. Walmsley was well known, his subjects always relating to textile manufacturing. An article pub- lished in "Commerce and Finance" in 1916, on "Cotton Manufacturing and the Nations," attracted wide attention. His published books were: "The Manufacture of Fine Yarns:" "Industrial Institutions, their Or- ganization and Regulation, and Cotton Spinning and Weaving," the latter going through three editions, one of which was printed in the Russian language, the first book ever printed in that language on cot- ton manufacturing. He was president of the New England Cotton Manufacturers Association from 1903 to 1905.
Mr. Walmsley married Berta Veronch, born in Narva, Russia, died in 1902, at New Bedford. They were the parents of two daughters : Beatrice and Marguerita, and a son, Herbert, whose sketch follows.
HERBERT WALMSLEY.
Herbert Walmsley, son of Herbert E. and Berta (Veronch) Walms- ley, was born in Newark, New Jersey, January 4, 1890, his father at that time being general manager of the Clark Thread Company. He attended private school in New Bedford, the city to which the family came in 1898, and he was a student at Friends Academy. He followed the business with which his father had been connected for so long, and beginning in lowly place rose through the various grades of promotion to the high position of superintendent of the Wamsutta Mill, holding that position when barely eighteen years old. He filled that position for six years, from 1908 to 1914, then resigned to become assistant superin- tendent of the Dartmouth Manufacturing Corporation, which is his present position. The Dartmouth is one of New Bedford's largest em- ployers of labor, twenty-two hundred hands operating in three mills, two hundred thousand spindles, and fifty-seven looms weaving plain,
David W. Beaman
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fancy and jacquard cotton and silk goods, capitalized at $2,600,000, pre- ferred and common stock, on which liberal dividends are paid. Mr. Walmsley is a Republican in politics, member of the Grace Protestant Episcopal Church, and of the Wamsutta Club. Mr. Walmsley married, in New Bedford, March 20, 1917, Evelyn Ennis, of New Bedford.
DAVID WEBSTER BEAMAN.
After technical instruction and practical experience in electrical engineering, Mr. Beaman came to his present position, superintendent of the electric department of the New Bedford Gas & Edison Light Com- pany, after a series of promotions from lower positions. He is a native son of Cincinnati, Ohio, his father, Edmund Addison Beaman, a teacher and a minister of the Swedenborgian church. Edmund Addison Beaman, born in Wendell, Massachusetts, August 8, 1811, died in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 8, 1908. He married Sarah V. Parsons, born in Northampton. Massachusetts, February 27, 1833, died in Newtonville, Massachusetts, January 4, 1916.
David W. Beaman was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, November 2, 1872, and there completed the grammar school course of public instruction with graduation. He also there pursued a course of instruction in the Technical School of Cincinnati, whence he was graduated in 1890. After working two years in the electrical business, he entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, and was graduated thence with the degree B. S., class of 1896. Graduates from Boston "Tech" are in de- mand, and immediately after graduation Mr. Beaman entered the employ of the West End Street Railway Company, now the Boston Elevated Railroad Company, at one of the company's power plants. He only re- mained in Boston until March, 1897, then became an employee of the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Company, at their electric light sta- tion, as an electrician. A period of twenty years has elapsed since he first came to New Bedford, and in that time the company has expanded and added greatly to their equipment and plant, the year 1916 alone adding the New Bedford and Onset Street Railway Company as a user of current, and the area of the company's supply through Wareham reaches from Cape Cod on the east to Falmouth and Chatham on the southeast, and the town of Middleboro. With direct line the company also supplies to Lakeville on the north, Mattapoisett on the east, and Potomska on the south. Current is also supplied the Bay State Street Railway Company to its station at Lakeside, all this in addition to its own lines and custo- mers in New Bedford. But the graduate of 1896 has also grown and expanded, and with opportunity knocking has answered each call and advanced from post to post until he reached his present position, super- intendent of the electrical department. He is an expert in electrical engineering and plant management, and has most efficiently conducted
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his department, meeting to the full every demand made upon him. He is an associate member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, member of the National Electric Light Association, a member of the Unitarian church, and in political faith a Republican.
Mr. Beaman married, June 25, 1902, in New Bedford, Jane Witter Stetson, born September 26, 1876, daughter of George R. Stetson, who died July 20, 1915, president of the New Bedford Gas & Edison Light Company, president of the Cooperative Bank, director of the New Bed- ford Textile School, an alderman, a water board commissioner, president of the Republican Club in 1888, and long one of the most prominent men of the city. Mr. and Mrs. Beaman are the parents of a son, David W., Jr., born March 1, 1916.
FRANCIS S. WINSPER.
Although one of the young men of the cotton trade, Francis S. Winsper has the knowledge born of several years experience in the busi- ness and to that adds the technical knowledge gained at the New Bedford Textile School. He has hitherto devoted himself to the raw material as classifier and salesman and has won enviable reputation for a man of his years. With great possibilities awaiting him and so thor- oughly equipped, the years seem full of brightest promise. He is a son of William J. Winsper, born at Glasgow, Scotland, August 29, 1863, came to the United States in 1881, now engineer with the Philadelphia & Reading Coal and Iron Company, at New Bedford. He was married in 1884 to Mary Kelley ; children: William J. (2), Josephine A., Mary, Ruth V., John B., Gertrude R., Emma C., Francis S.
Francis S. Winsper was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, August 8, 1895. He completed his public school attendance at St. Mary's Roman Catholic School, and R. C. Ingraham Grammar School, then entered classes at the New Bedford Textile School, where he prepared for the business career he has so successfully pursued. He began business life as a clerk with the Beacon Manufacturing Company, next became a cotton classer with the City Manufacturing Company, remain- ing three years, then filled the same position with The Dean, Dakin, Bridgeman Company, of Clarksdale, Mississippi, holding that position until entering the employ of Stephen M. Weld & Company, cotton brokers at New Bedford, leaving them to take charge of the New Bed- ford office of Samuel Newburger & Company, of New York. He is thoroughly equipped for the work he has undertaken and success has attended his efforts. Mr. Winsper is a Democrat in politics, a charter member of the New Bedford branch of the Red Cross Society, member of the Plymouth Club and of St. Lawrence Roman Catholic Church. He was a member of the Sixth Deck Division, Massachusetts Naval Militia, served a full term of enlistment and was honorably discharged in 1915.
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GEORGE LOUIS OLIVIER.
Son of a brave soldier of the Union who gave up his life for his coun- try on the battlefield of Kenesaw Mountain, Mr. Olivier was thus orphaned when a child. But the Nation which claimed the life of his father cared for the son until a high school graduate, being sheltered and educated at the expense of the Government in the Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home at Xenia, Ohio. A resident of New Bedford since June 10, 1889, Mr. Olivier, a business man and citizen, endeared himself to the people with whom he came in contact, and when President Wilson was called upon to name a postmaster for New Bedford, Mr. Olivier was his choice, the first postmaster to occupy the magnificent new postoffice building.
James McCully Olivier was born in Bedford, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1834, and was killed in the battle of Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, June 27, 1864. He was a contractor, and at the time of his enlistment was liv- ing in Shelby, Ohio. He enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and as a part of the Second Brigade of the Fourteenth Corps, Army of the Cumberland, was engaged under General William T. Sherman in his Georgia campaign, which for Mr. Olivier ended on the bloody slopes of Kenesaw Mountain. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a man much esteemed. He married, November 25, 1860, at Shelby, Ohio, Mary Ann Gross, born April 7, 1843, died in Chicago, Illinois, in 1885. Mr. and Mrs. Olivier were the parents of a daughter and son: Sadie Ellen, mar- ried Frederick S. Hendry, and resides in San Francisco, California ; George Louis, of further mention.
George Louis Olivier was born in Shelby, Ohio, November 19, 1862, and there attended the public school. Later he was a student at the high school at the Ohio Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphan Home, Xenia, Ohio, and there completed his studies with graduation. He began business life as an employee of the American Express Company, and rose rapidly in the service, holding positions with that company in Cleveland, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. Later he resigned to accept a better position with the Wells, Fargo Express Company in Chicago, remaining with that company until coming to New Bedford as representative of the United States Express Company. In New Bedford he resigned from the United States Express Company to become manager of the express busi- ness of Hatch & Company, continuing in that position until engaging in mercantile business as a wholesale importer. On February 4, 1915, he was appointed postmaster by President Wilson, and on September 13, 1915, moved from the old building, corner of Acushnet avenue and Wil- liam street, expressly designed for and first occupied as a postoffice, April 1, 1893, to the present post, incomparably superior to the conven- tional postoffice building erected by the Government in cities of the size of New Bedford. He is ably administering the affairs of the office, giv-
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