USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > History of New Bedford, Volume III > Part 7
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who served as judge substitute and district attorney in Flores, Azores, then was sent by the Portuguese government to Boston, Massachusetts, as consul. He filled that post until the overthrow of the monarchial government and the proclamation of the Republic of Portugal. His wife was Jessie Mac Kay de Almeida. Dr. and Mrs. Pitta are the parents of Carl Almeida Pitta, born September 27, 1900; Mercedes Almeida Pitta, born February 21, 1902 ; Clarice Almeida Pitta, April 6, 1910; the two eldest are students in New Bedford High School. Dr. Pitta's residence is No. 57 Allen street, and office is No. 43 Allen street, New Bedford.
WILLIAM JAMES KERWIN.
Born in far away Melbourne, Australia, of Irish parents, Mr. Kerwin has tasted life on the Island Continent, the Mother Country, Great Britain, and her daughter, the United States, all three now locking arms for the great struggle which shall decide forever the question, "Shall Democracy live or shall it be strangled by self elected forces, claiming to rule by Divine right." For more than a quarter of a century Mr. Kerwin has been a resident of Massachusetts, his New Bedford coming dating from 1904. He has been for many years engaged in cotton manufacture in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Providence, Rhode Island, and New Bedford, his position, superintendent of the Beacon Manufacturing Company, a corporation capitalized at $800,000, operating three mills, employing twelve hundred and fifty hands in the manufacture of blankets and napped goods. The position of superintendent of the Beacon Com- pany carries with it grave responsibilities, and these Mr. Kerwin meets by having men who perform the work to the satisfaction of all who are affected by his rulings and official action.
William James Kerwin was born in Melbourne, Australia, No- vember 20, 1868, but educated in the public schools and Smart's Academy of Bradford, England. He is a son of William James and Mary E. (Brennan) Kerwin, born in Ireland, his father an engineer. After the family came from Melbourne to Bradford, the boy completed his edu- cation and there remained until 1890, becoming an expert in the manu- facture of worsted goods. In 1890 he came to the United States, made settlement at Lawrence, Massachusetts, and became an employee of the Pacific Mills of that city, in the worsted department, remaining one year. He then went to the Atlantic Mill in Providence, Rhode Island, there continuing until 1904, reaching the position of assistant-superintendant after several minor promotions. In that year he came to the super- intendency of the Beacon Manufacturing Company of New Bedford, has won high reputation as a cotton mill official, and there yet continues. Mr. Kerwin is a Republican in politics, and during the years 1909-10 represented his ward on the New Bedford Board of Aldermen. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Protective
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Order of Elks, the Wamsutta Club, and of St. Anthony's Roman Catholic Church.
Mr. Kerwin married in Providence, October, 1893, Anna Elizabeth Warren, born there, daughter of James and Mary E. (Burke) Warren. Mr. and Mrs. Kerwin are the parents of three sons and a daughter, all born in Providence: William James (3), born in 1895; Harold Edward, 1896, now a student in the Baltimore School of Dental Surgery ; Ernest Warren, 1897; all graduates of New Bedford High School. William J. and Ernest W. now in training for mill officials, specializing in chemi- cals and dyes. Gladys May, the only daughter, born in 1900, is yet a high school student.
ROBERT LINDSAY.
Through a long course of technical study and experimental laboratory work, Mr. Lindsay has come to his present position, super- intendent of the gas department of the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Company. Chemistry, ever a favorite study, has been caused to yield to him important secrets, but they were diligently and intelligently sought for and came as the result of painstaking labor and study. He is an authority on the chemist's view of gas manufacture and distribution, a branch of scientific study and practical business that he has been con- nected with from his nineteenth year when he first entered the employ of his present company as their chemist.
Robert Lindsay was born in Glasgow, Scotland, November 22, 1871, son of William Archibald Lindsay, an engineer, and his wife, Mary (Hynd) Lindsay, the Lindsays an ancient Scottish Clan of high standing. Robert Lindsay attended Glasgow public schools, the College of Science and Arts and Technical School before coming to this country, and in New Bedford attended both the Swain Free School of Design and the Textile School, taking the mechanical engineering course at the latter institution and graduating from both. In August, 1890, he entered the employ of the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Company, as chemist; not that his studies were over for they had but begun, and during the quarter of a century which has since elapsed his work has been one long series of problems submitted and many of them solved, and many still in the course of solution but the answer still afar off. His library of works pertaining to chemistry and chemical research is very large, and his spirit of investigation carries him deep into their contents. In 1910 he became superintendent of the gas department, an immense business in itself, when it is recalled that the company in New Bedford, Acushnet and Fairhaven has a total of one hundred and fifty- five miles of main pipe ; that in New Bedford alone there are twenty-one thousand five hundred and eighty-two gas meters; that they supply gas to twenty-one thousand two hundred and fifty-five gas stoves, and that
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for the financial year ending July 1, 1916, their sales of gas increased $15,976.13.
Mr. Lindsay is a member of the National Commercial Gas Asso- ciation, member of the American Gas Institute, member of the New England Association of Gas Engineers, member of the Order of Scottish Clans, the Caledonian Club, Abraham H. Howland Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. In addition to his weighty duties and responsibilities, he took the course of military training at Plattsburg, New York, and is qualified for service as an officer if called. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian.
Mr. Lindsay married, in New Bedford, December 23, 1889, Elnora Elizabeth Leuchsenring, her parents born in Germany. They are the parents of a son, Robert Bruce, born January 1, 1900, now a student at Brown University, class of 1920.
EDWARD STETSON, D. D. S.
Among the dentists of by-gone days in New Bedford, Dr. Edward Stetson occupies a prominent position. His life in New Bedford covered a half century of most startling change and progress, a city springing into existence and becoming the seat of a prosperous manufacturing business, the whaling industry breathing its last after bringing to New Bedford wealth and prestige such as no other New England city enjoyed. During those years, 1826-84, Dr. Stetson, as business and professional man, had a share in the upbuilding of the town and city, was long a dental practitioner with an office in his residence on Purchase street, and was one of the strong men of the Masonic order, holding high degree, and taking active part in the work of the bodies of the order to which he belonged. He lived to advance far into the rank of octogenarian, lack- ing little of reaching his eighty-fifth year. He was a man of kindly, happy disposition, always cheerful and helpful, and even after passing his eightieth year gave little indication of the great weight of years he was carrying. He had many friends and was everywhere welcome. He left no son to bear his name, but a daughter and a granddaughter sur- vived him. This daughter, Charlotte M. A. C., married William Spauld- ing, their only daughter, Mary Clarke Spaulding, still being a resident of New Bedford, widow of John Stirrett, and mother of Chester Spaulding Stirrett, D. V. S., now a member of the Veterinary Corps, United States Army, enlisting from New Bedford.
Dr. Edward Stetson, a descendant of Cornet Robert Stetson, who came to New England from England, in 1634, was born at Hanover, Massachusetts, November 3, 1800, and died in New Bedford, Massachu- setts, June 12, 1884. He was educated in the Hanover schools and learned the locksmith's trade, remaining in Hanover until 1826, when he moved to New Bedford. Here he opened a locksmith shop and continued in
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ber of John H. Clifford Camp, No. 150, Sons of Veterans, which he served as captain ; was councilman from Ward 4 during the mayoralty terms of David L. Parker; was secretary of the New Bedford Yacht Club ; member of the Country Club, and politically a Republican.
Mr. Forbes married, in the old Fairhaven Congregational Church, October 5, 1892, Minerva L. Westgate, of Fairhaven, Massachusetts, daughter of Stephen and Laura Westgate, her father a master mechanic of the Old Colony and the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company. They were the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth Claire Forbes, born in 1895. She is a pianist of note, making her professional debut in New Bedford, at the age of seventeen, as soloist with the Boston Sym- phony Orchestra, Dr. Muck conducting. She married, in 1917, Charles De Malley, of Boston, also a member of this orchestra.
CHARLES MASON HOLMES.
Charles Mason Holmes, organizer, treasurer and agent of the Holmes Manufacturing Company, is one of the men who contributed to that era of New Bedford's industry in which New Bedford won first place among the cotton manufacturing cities of the United States. Mr. Holmes's achievement was unusual in several particulars. The manufacture of cloths and yarns was a well established industry at the time he built his mills, but there had been no local development of the mercerizing and dyeing of the yarns produced, these processes having been left to outside plants. Mr. Holmes undertook to add these processes to that of the manufacture of fine combed yarns, and within a short time secured an identity through the trade marking of his goods which gave the Holmes product a reputation and enviable name throughout the country.
The Holmes mill made handsome earnings from the start, which was an unusual thing at this period, because, while the building of the mill was started when the cotton industry was on the top of the wave, a depression intervened in the interval between the commencement and completion of the mill, and many of the new enterprises which were inspired by the earlier prosperity which led to the multiplication of new enterprises, were put to their shifts to finance them over the lean years which followed. It is therefore a personal tribute to Mr. Holmes's per- ception and sagacity, exceptional training and experience, and business ability, that he produced a special type of yarns which appealed to buyers in a market surfeited with conventional product. So it happened that whereas some other of the new mill enterprises were compelled to run at a loss until business revived, the Holmes mill earned dividends throughout these unpropitious times.
Mr. Holmes came of a race of cotton manufacturers and his experi- ence was wide and thorough. His career brings credit to New Bedford, inasmuch as most of his earlier training was in the mills of New Bedford.
Glas. M. Holmes.
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Mr. Holmes was born in Providence, March 23, 1864, the son of Denison Baldwin Holmes and Catherine Elizabeth (Whitman) Holmes. His great-grandfather, Olney Angel, of Centerdale, Rhode Island, built and operated the old Graystone mill, which was the second cotton mill in the United States. His maternal grandfather, William Whitman, of Center- dale, was also a cotton manufacturer. His uncle, Gilbert P. Whitman, built the Armory mills of Manchester, New Hampshire; and another uncle, John Kilburn, of Lowell, was also identified with the manufacture of cotton.
After leaving the high school at Rockport, Massachusetts, where he attended the public schools, Mr. Holmes started upon his textile career at the Potomska mills in New Bedford, where he remained three and one- half years. Then he went to the Lawrence Manufacturing Company of Lowell, of which his uncle, John Kilburn, was agent, and spent three years in the machine shop, eighteen months in the draughting room, and a year as assistant overseer in the carding room. From Lowell he went to Manchester, New Hampshire, where he was assistant overseer in the carding room of the Jefferson mill, a part of the great plant of the Amos- keag Manufacturing Company. He remained three and one-half years in Manchester, when he went to Clinton, Massachusetts, as overseer of the carding room of the Lancaster mill, holding that position for three years. Then Mr. Holmes returned to New Bedford to take a position as overseer of carding in Mills Nos. 1, 2 and 3 of the Wamsutta plant. After two years in this position he was appointed superintendent of the Wam- sutta Mills, a position he held for eighteen months. From the Wamsutta Mills, Mr. Holmes went to the Manchaug Mills at Manchaug, Massachu- setts, as superintendent, then to the Natick Mills at Natick, Rhode Island, in a similar position, both mills being owned and controlled by B. B. and R. Knight. Mr. Holmes was in the employ of the Knights for four and one-half years.
And then, in 1903, at the age of thirty-nine, after this long and suc- cessful experience on the manufacturing side, Mr. Holmes commenced his career as a manager of great enterprises. He came to New Bedford as agent of the first Manomet mill, having the responsibility for the build- ing and equipping of that plant. A second mill was added, and Mr. Holmes acted as agent for both until May, 1909. Mr. Holmes in the lat- ter year organized the Holmes Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $1,200,000. The mill was built on Clark's Point, on the river front, for the manufacture of fine combed yarns, gassed, mercerized, bleached and dyed. The mill employs twelve hundred hands. Mr. Holmes is agent and treasurer of the mill, and it has paid handsome dividends from the beginning, paying in 1916 the highest dividend rate of any cotton manu- facturing corporation in New Bedford, with one exception. Mr. Holmes's success with this enterprise was so striking that when the Gosnold mills passed into the hands of Boston capitalists in 1916, Mr. Holmes was
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asked to become treasurer and agent of that company, capitalized at $1,650,000 and operating two mills engaged in manufacturing fine cotton goods, plain and fancies, jacquards, silk and cotton mixtures.
As the guiding genius of these enterprises, Mr. Holmes might seem to be well occupied, but he has found opportunity to take active part in various public-spirited activities, such as the reorganization of the Board of Commerce, and many of the fund-raising movements for promoting the comfort and welfare of the young men in the army. Mr. Holmes is a director of the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company of Springfield, the Manufacturers Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Prov- idence, director of the First National Bank of New Bedford, trustee of the New Bedford Institution for Savings, director of the Morris Plan Bank, trustee and member of the executive committee of the New Bed- ford Textile School, trustee of Friends' Academy, trustee of the Free Public Library, director of the Board of Commerce, member of Washing- ton Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Manchester, New Hampshire ; the Royal Arch Masons of Phoenix, Rhode Island ; Sutton Commandery, Knights Templar, of New Bedford; Aleppo Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Boston. His clubs are the Wamsutta and Country Club of New Bedford ; the Country Club of Rockport, Massachusetts ; the Tex- tile Club and the Southern New England Club. He is a member of the National Manufacturers Association, and a vestryman of the Grace Epis- copal Church of New Bedford. Mr. Holmes is a Republican in politics.
Mr. Holmes married, June 30, 1891, Miss Alice Parker, daughter of the late Frederick and Augusta (Tripp) Parker. They have three sons : I. Harold Denison Holmes, born December 12, 1893; two years in New Bedford High School, graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University, Bachelor of Arts, class of 1916; assistant superintendent of the Holmes Mill ; now second lieutenant, United States Regulars, Bureau of Ordnance, stationed in Washington, D. C. 2. Charles Parker Holmes, born January 16, 1899; graduate of Friends' Academy, New Bedford, and Phillips Exeter Academy ; now a student at Harvard University, class of 1918. 3. Standish Whitman Holmes, born April 11, 1906, now attend- ing Friends' Academy.
Denison B. Holmes, the father of Charles M. Holmes, was the only child of Daniel B. Holmes, a soldier in the War of 1812, whose source of livelihood was farming. He was born in North Stonington, Connecti- cut, June 9, 1815, and died at Manchester, New Hampshire, March 14, 1889. He was an engineer, steam and mechanical, and at one time super- intendent of the mechanical department of the Old Colony railroad, with headquarters at Fall River. He was connected with the Corliss Steam Engine Company of Providence, and employed by other large companies as consulting engineer. He retired from business six years before his death. He married Catherine Elizabeth Whitman, daughter of William Whitman, of Centerdale, a cotton manufacturer. She was born at Cen-
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terdale, July 15, 1826, and died at Lowell, March 28, 1902. Denison B. Holmes was a member of the Congregational church, and was a Repub- lican in politics. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Denison B. Holmes were Charles Mason Holmes; and Annie Whitman Holmes, born March 8, 1869, who married Elmer D. Robinson, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
EVERETT B. MacLEOD.
Of Scotch descent, Mr. Macleod, like most of his race, could not brook restraint, and when but a lad of thirteen he left his home without consent and never returned until he was a man in years and stature. But the desire for change was strong within him, and although he learned a trade and worked steadily for years he longed for the freedom of a sales- man's life and several more years were spent "on the road." Finally he settled in New Bedford, and here won his greatest success as a mer- chant and man of exemplary life.
Everett B. Macleod was born in East Providence, Rhode Island, December 5, 1861, and died in New Bedford, Massachusetts, December 30, 1916. Until thirteen years of age he attended public school and re- sided with his parents, then ran away, walking to Poughkeepsie, New York. There he found employment, and remained several years, then returned to Providence. There he found employment with the Corliss Engine Works, his father being also employed there. The young man learned the machinist's trade, and steadily followed it for five years, then longing for an out-of-door occupation took an agency for the sale of the Encyclopedia Brittanica, continuing a successful salesman of the publi- cation for several years. He then took out a commercial line, and for a number of years traveled for a credit house, handling different lines, and continued to master all details of the credit business, proving its desir- ability as a producer of profits. In 1895 Mr. Macleod resigned his posi- tion, located in New Bedford, and in a small store on Purchase street started a retail clothing store on the credit plan. His venture proved a suc- cess and he enlarged several times, finally purchasing the entire block at the corner of Elm and Purchase streets, which has ever since been known as the MacLeod Building. Later he opened a credit furniture store on South Water street, The Ward Six Furniture Company, a business he closed out in 1914. He invested largely in New Bedford real estate from the profits of his business, choosing his investments wisely and increas- ing his profits. He was interested in all that promised better things for New Bedford, and although he never took an active part in politics was intensely interested in city affairs. He continued active in business until his death in 1916, the clothing business he had built up then passing by purchase to Arthur S. Ashley, an old employee, who yet continues it as the MacLeod Credit Company. Mr. Macleod was an eminent member of the Masonic order, holding the thirty-third degree, Ancient Ac-
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cepted Scottish Rite, and was affiliated with Eureka Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and his widow is now a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. He was also a companion of the Royal Arch Masons, a Knights Templar and an Elk. His club was the Wamsutta.
On November 30, 1908, at New Bedford, Mr. Macleod married Elizabeth M. Layton, daughter of Captain John S. and Agnes M. (Cong- don) Layton, her father a famous master of whalers, he commanding many of New Bedford's noted ships, Mr. and Mrs. Macleod were the parents of three sons: Donald, Norman, and Robert, all residing with their widowed mother at the family home, No. 52 Rotch street, New Bed- ford.
JOHN T. CHAMPION.
The first twenty-three years of the life of John T. Champion were spent on his native Prince Edward Island and there he learned the trade of tailor, which he has so successfully followed in New Bedford, being sole proprietor of the business of A. M. Bush & Company, No. 47 William street. He has succeeded in his enterprises and has built up along with his business a reputation for integrity and honorable dealing. He is a son of John B. and Isabelle Champion, both deceased, his father a farmer.
John T. Champion was born on Prince Edward Island, Canada, September 14, 1864, and there he was educated, learned his trade and lived until 1887. In that year he came to the United States, locating in New Bedford where he was employed at the Wamsutta Mills for six weeks, and by the Street Car Company for one year as a conductor. He then began working at his trade of tailor, being hired for four months by B. Frank Taylor. In 1884 he entered the employ of A. M. Bush, tailor, whose store was then at the same location as Mr. Champion now occupies. He began as press man and for three years was so engaged, then being made shop foreman. For eleven years he was engaged by Mr. Bush on salary, then was admitted to a partnership, purchasing a one-half interest with his savings. The firm name then became A. M. Bush & Company, and for about thirteen years the partnership con- tinued, Mr. Champion then purchasing the half interest owned by Mr. Bush and becoming sole proprietor. The business is a large and a prosperous one and conducted on modern business lines. Delivery is made by automobile, that mode supplanting the horse and wagon, which supplanted the hired horse, which supplanted the bicycle, which suc- ceeded the arm delivery of the early days. In January, 1902, Mr. Cham- pion completed a course of instruction at Mitchell's Cutting School in New York City, graduating as a ladies' tailor and receiving a diploma. Upon coming into full ownership, he built a concrete cleaning building upon the rear of his home lot which the State inspector declared was perfection ; cleanliness and sanitation are closely observed in all depart-
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ments of the business, and in all respects A. M. Bush & Company is a model, modern cleaning and pressing establishment, reflecting the views and principles of its owner. The business has been built up in honor and the store motto is "Good service."
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