History of New Bedford and its vicinity, 1620-1892, Part 79

Author: Ellis, Leonard Bolles
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Mason
Number of Pages: 1170

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Mr. Tucker very early took a high position among the merchants of New Bedford. He was enterprising and successful. For the most part the firm of which he was a member confined its operations to the pursuit for which New Bedford has for so long a period been celebrated. As the business and managing capacity of the head of the firm was developed, and his fidelity to duty as the ruling principle of his conduct was uni- versally recognized, he had committed to him many important trusts, to all of which he was faithful and in the discharge of which he won, to an extent reached by few. the approbation and regard of his associates and of the community.

His connection with the Merchants' National Bank continued for a period of more than a quarter of a century and until his death. He held the presidency of that insti- tution for twenty-three years. His trusteeship of the New Bedford Institution for Savings was of long standing, and he held for many years and until his death a place upon its Board of Investment. Other important positions of this character were occu- pied by him, and in them all there was manifested the sagacity and fidelity which in- spired confidence and commanded success.

There was another and more important sphere of activity and usefulness in which Mr. Tucker held a place quite as conspicuous, and in which the same reliance was felt and reposed in the soundness of his judgment and fidelity to the right. It was as a member of the Church of Christ and as a leading member and official of the Society of Friends that the light of his character and the influence of his judicious activity were the most widely felt. There is no position in the Society that he did not at some time occupy, and there was in the discharge of the various duties thus devolving upon him that sound discretion, that unselfish devotion to the right, and that clear recognition of the paramount value of the spiritual life which inspired confidence in his counsels, :d gave him a large share in the administration of the affairs of the New England Yearly Meeting and many of its subordinate organizations. At the time of his death he was clerk of the Yearly Meeting, the highest official position in the Society. In his own Monthly Meeting he was an elder and overseer. His judgment and fidelity in aid of

HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.

the management of one of its trust funds, by which an unproductive bequest was changed into a bountiful source of beneficence to the needy, will long be remembered in connection with the "John West Fund " for the assistance of the worthy poor.

Although warmly and intelligently attached to the religious principles and denomina- tional peculiarities of the Society of Friends, he had a most comprehensive charity and felt and expressed a unity in all the measures which appeared to him calculated to exalt the moral tone of society, and diffuse the blessings of the Redeemner's kingdom.

For many years he was a member of the School Board, having in charge the over- sight and direction of the Friends' Y. M. School at Providence. The interests of this school, now holding so prominent a position among the educational institutions of the country, received a large share of his attention. His loss will be deeply and widely felt ; but his memory, rich with the accumulation of a long life of devotedness to truth and fidelity to duty remains, and his example will give to many a stimulus to high aims and virtuous deeds that will perpetuate the benefactions of his useful life.

Mr. Tucker's death occurred on the 21st of December, 1876. On the 19th of Sep- tember, 1833, he was married to Dorcas Fry, of Weare, N. H., a native of Bolton, Worcester County, Mass. She died a year previous to his decease. Their children were eight, as follows: Benjamin R., born March 14, 1835, died March 11, 1836; Ben- jamin, born November 20, 1836, now living in New Hampshire ; John F., born August 13, 1839. died June 14, 1886, in New Bedford; Henry R., born April 18, 1842, died August 9, 1872, in New Bedford ; Charles Russell, jr., born August 19, 1844. died in New Bedford February 11, 1891 ; Robert E., born August 30, 1846, died in California February 22, 1873 : Edward T., born September 29, 1849, now a physician of New Bedford ; George F., born Jannary 19, 1852, now a lawyer in New Bedford.

G RINNELL, JOSEPH, was born in New Bedford November 17, 1788. His father was Cornelius Grinnell, who had, in the American Revolution, rendered loyal serv- ice on land and sea. After several years spent in the merchant service, he established himself in New Bedford, where he died in 1850. His mother was Sylvia Howland, to whose lovely character and steady discharge of duty, her children were largely indebted for the success and honor to which they arrived.

Mr. Grinnell commenced his mercantile life as clerk to his father and uncle on Cen- tral Wharf, in this city. At twenty years of age he was appointed deputy collector and surveyor of this port. In 1810 he commenced business in New York, in company with his uncle, John H. Howland, under the firm name of Howland & Grinnell. Their business was very successful till the war of 1812, when nearly all their vessels were captured or confiscated. In 1815 he formed a copartnership with his cousin, Capt. Preserved Fish. The firm name was Fish & Grinnell. Captain Fish continued as part- ner until 1825. On his retiring, Mr. Grinnell admitted his brothers, Henry and Moses H., as copartners under the style of Fish, Grinnell & Co.

Robert B. Minturn, a brother-in-law of Henry Grinnell, was admitted a partner un- der the style of Grinnell, Minturn & Co. In 1843 Mr. Grinnell was elected to Con- gress from this district to serve the unexpired term of Hon. Barker Burnell, who had

WILLIAM S. AND WILLIAM A. WALL.

deceased, and was re-elected for three terms, making a service of eight years in the House of Representatives. His eminent practical ability and extensive knowledge of mercantile affairs made his services very valuable. A perusal of these pages will show how important Mr. Grinnell was to the development of the industries of New Bedford. Strict integrity, a prompt discharge of duty, a clear head, and strong common sense made liim one of the foremost citizens of his native town. He died in 1885 at the ad- vanced age of ninety-seven years.

W ALL, WILLIAM SAWYER. William Sawyer Wall was born at Rock, Worces- tershire, England, and came early in life to this country, living at first in Boston. He afterwards took up his abode in New Bedford, of which town his wife, formerly Rebecca Barnes, was a native. A member of the Society of Friends, which was one of the reasons for his leaving his English home, Mr. Wall was far from being rigid in the observance of the forms of that body, and was a man of fine scholarship and culture with a great talent for drawing. He taught school for some time in New Bedford, winning the euthusiastic love of his pupils, but ill health compelled him to abandon that pursuit. He made several visits to England, and on his return from the last engaged in the importation and sale of "Queensware," a business which was greatly injured by the war of 1812. Although an Englishman by birth, he loved his adopted home, and was much interested in everything which was done for its improvement-especially in re- gard to education. He died at the age of forty-eight, in the year 1815, just after the treaty of peace was signed, leaving behind him the memory of a noble and upright char- acter, combined with the charms of grace and culture.

W JALL, WILLIAM ALLEN .-- William Allen Wall, son of William Sawyer Wall, was born May 19, 1801, in New Bedford in the the house yet standing on Johnny- cake Hill, and died in the same town, October 6, 1885. While a lad at school he showed a love for painting, which developed rapidly as he grew older and which was hereditary. On the death of his father, however, he was sent to Hanover to learn watchmaking from John Bailey, and in 1815 he returned to New Bedford, where he began to practice that trade and where he spent most of his life, having married, in 1823, Rhobie Taber, daughter of Joseph Russell, of Russell's Mills. Gradually he be- gan to give more attention to painting, and in 1828 passed a winter in New York for purposes of study, following that by a year in Philadelphia as the pupil of Thomas Sully. There are in the possession of Mr. Wall's family many letters to him from Mr. Sully, speaking in the highest possible terms of his work, and urging him to go to Europe to. study the coloring of the old masters, a recommendation long out of the artist's power to carry out

Many difficulties lay in the painter's way ; he had to make his own brushes, stretch his own canvases, [and often carry home his paints in clam-shells from the house- painter's shop ; but all obstacles yielded before his ardent love for and devotion to his art, and in 1831he was enabled to accomplish what the growing feeling of a need for

HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.

wider study had long demanded; he sailed for England. In London and Paris, Flor- ence and Rome he worked with great diligence and delight, and with a profound ap- preciation of the beauty of the greatest of the works which were open to his study, which, unhappily, is not shared by all painters of to-day. In 1833 he returned to New Bedford and there spent most of his after life.

Mr. Wall was a man of much mechanical talent, and the quickness of eye and skill of hand which characterized him stood him in good stead as a painter, and combined with an excellent memory and a habit of close observation enabled him to make excel- lent copies of many notable works, often wholly from memory. He was also able to recall with ease natural objects, and to reproduce natural effects from notes taken on the spot with accuracy and vividness, and he was well versed in the technique of his profession. He painted with delight scenes from history and legend, especially of our own land, and also illustrations of those depicted for us by the poets, together with some pictures representing ideal or symbolic subjects ; his portraits and landscapes in oil are many.

A few years before the first water-color exhibition in America was held Mr. Wall revived the practice of that art, which, though long disused, he had learned in England, and henceforth until the time of his death continued to produce admirable works of that kind. He dearly loved the scenery in the neighborhood of his home, whose peen- liarly dreamy and poetic beauty he deeply felt, a beauty now fast disappearing in too many places before utilitarian ugliness, and he faithfully represented it in many of its varied aspects.

Although of Quaker parentage Mr. Wall and his wife were among the early members of the Unitarian Church in New Bedford, in which for many years he was an earnest and interested worker. An artist friend contributes the following :

It was the privilege of the writer to be intimately associated with Mr. Wall, both as an art student and friend for many years. Many a delightful sketching tour we have made together, and few perhaps outside of his immediate family have had better op- portunities of knowing him thoroughly. He was emphatically one of " nature's noble- men." He was one of the best and truest of friends, large hearted, pure and true to his convictions of duty. Temptations which would have overcome many could not swerve him. In his home he was a model husband and father. Naturally of a genial disposition, his reading and culture, and, above all, his love of nature gave a youthful fresliness and charm to his conversation which was all his own, and which even his ad- vancing years did not diminish. His delicious sense of humor brightened and made piquant every hour spent in his society. He saw nature with the eyes of an artist and the feeling of a poet. There was no phase of landscape, no woodland idyl, dreamy brook o'er-hung with tangled bough and vine-clad drapery, moss-covered rock or bosky dell which did not appeal to him -- how powerfully can now be seen through many of the lovely views he has left behind.

The limits of this will not permit a more extended notice, but it may well be said that he has left a noble record behind hin, more precions than gold or riches. The world is better because such men have lived.

JOSEPH A. BEAUVAIS.

B EAUVAIS, JOSEPH ARTHUR, is a son of Andrew and Patience (Ricketson) Beauvais, and was born in South Dartmouth, Mass., January 21, 1824. His mother was a daughter of Clark and Mary (Wood) Ricketson, of that town. His father was a native of Bordeaux, France, the family having been reduced by the French Revolution, and to avoid conscription into Napoleon's army, which was then taking boys of twelve years of age, he was sent while quite young by his widowed mother to this country, whither his sister, wife of Capt. James Rider, of Dartmouth, had preceded him. Andrew Beauvais commanded, for many years, packet ships from New York in the New Orleans trade, and later in the South American trade, chiefly with Buenos Ayres. His uncle, James Rider, was also a successful ship-master, sailing from New York in the New Orleans and European trade. In childhood, his father and uncle, with their families, removed to New York, and afterwards to Astoria, Long Is- land, where his mother died. After that event, and Captain Rider having retired from his sea-faring life in 1832, the families returned to South Dartmouth, and Joseph Ar- thur became an inmate of his uncle's family. He was tenderly reared and educated by his uncle and aunt, to whose sterling characters, excellent precepts, and careful train- ing he feels what success he has met with in life is largely due. Captain Rider engaged quite extensively in the whaling business in South Dartmouth, and subsequently in New Bedford, where he died.

The young man's early education was obtained in the public and private schools of Dartmouth. In 1840 he came to New Bedford and attended, for a short time, the Bush Street Grammar School, and was admitted to the High School, John F. Emerson, prin- cipal. After graduating in 1842, he entered the counting-room of Barton Ricketson, his uncle, then extensively engaged as managing owner of whaling and merchant ves- sels, and also of the New Bedford Iron Foundry. In 1843 he became his uncle's book- keeper and confidential clerk, where he remained till November, 1851, when he as- sumed a like position in the counting-room of J. B. Wood & Co., then largely engaged in the whaling business. Here he became interested with the firm as an owner in their ships, and was at times managing owner of several merchant and coasting vessels, and he also did some business as a broker.

In 1860 he was chosen treasurer of the New Bedford Tannery Company, which built the tanning works on Court street. This enterprise not proving remunerative, after a few years the property changed hands and the corporation was dissolved. In 1867 he was chosen treasurer of the American Tack Company, of Fairhaven, and sub- sequently its president, which position he still retains.

In February, 1872, he severed a most pleasant and harmonious connection of more than twenty-one years with J. B. Wood & Co., and formed the firm of Beauvais & Co. (T. B. Fuller, formerly bookkeeper of the American Tack Company, as partner) and engaged in private banking. In I874, assisted by H. A. Blood, of Fitchburg, Henry W. Phelps, of Springfield, and others, he organized the Fall River Railroad Company, of which corporation he was made president. This corporation contracted with Mr. Phelps to build the railroad from Fall River to New Bedford, and it was opened for travel in December, 1875. Within two years after the completion of the road Mr. Beauvais resigned from the office of president of the company, but continued as a di-

HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.

rector, and still holds the position. Previous to this time he had been chosen a director in the Merchants' National Bank.

In May, 1875, in connection with his partner and others, he organized the Citizens' National Bank, of which he was chosen president and Mr. Fuller cashier. To this in- stitution the banking business of Beauvais & Co. was transferred. The bank was or- ganized with a capital of $250,000, which has been increased to $500,000, and it is now one of the most successful financial institutions of the city. He was one of the origi- nal corporators and for some time a trustee of the New Bedford Five Cents Savings Bank, which position he resigned after a few years, but was subsequently re-elected trustee and now holds that office. In 1878 he became interested in the organization of the New England Mutual Aid Society, for life insurance on the assessment plan. Of this society he was president until the removal of the office to Boston rendered the dis- charge of the duties incompatible with his other engagements.

In politics, Mr. Beauvais was originally a Whig, and identified himself with the Re- publican party on its formation. In religious faith he is a Congregationalist. For some time he was clerk of the Trinitarian Church, and during eight years was superintend- ent of its Sunday-School. For many years he has been a member of the North Con- gregational Church.

Mr. Beauvais is in every respect the active representative business man, and his qual- ifications have led to his association in many prominent enterprises. At the present time (1892) he is president and treasurer of the American Tack Company ; president of the Citizens' National Bank; president of the New Bedford Real Estate Association, and of the Weeden Manufacturing Co .; director in the Bennett Manufacturing Co .; director in the Union Street Railway Co .; director in the Grinnell Manufacturing Company of New Bedford ; the Fall River Bleachery, the Sagamore Manufacturing Company, the Border City Manufacturing Company, the Globe Street Railway Com- pany, the King Philip Mills and the Globe Yarn Mills, all of Fall River, and of the Taunton Copper Manufacturing Company. In all of these important trusts Mr. Beau- vais has won the entire confidence and always advanced the interests of his associates; at the same time by his urbane and courteous bearing on all occasions, he has gained a wide circle of enduring friendships. His successful life, in the absence of robust health, is a vivid lesson to the young. His long and faithful service for the Wood Brothers, during which their interest was always his own, no matter at what personal sacrifice ; their implicit confidence in him; their designation of him as one of the executors of a large estate and his generous reward from them in a legacy ; his steady rise in the financial world and in the respect of the community where he has so long resided, all point to the fact that he who will follow a similar course will seldom fail of a similar result.

In May, 1848, Mr. Beauvais was united in marriage with Hannah Cotton Parker, daughther of Ward M. and Hepzabeth (Davis) Parker. They had one child, Louise Cecile, who married Max Ritter Von Schmaedel, an artist of Munich, and died leaving a son, Harold Parker Von Schmaedel. Mrs. Beauvais died in January, 1879, and in June, 1881, he married Mary Stetson Mendell, daughter of Ellis and Catharine (Allen) Men- dell, of New Bedford.

A. A. GREENE - DR. E. P. ABBE.

G REENE, AUGUSTUS A., was born in Warwick, Rhode Island, on the 26th of February, 1804. His early boyhood was spent on his father's farm and in obtain- ing an education in the common branches at school. At the age of eighteen years he had learned the trade of house-carpenter, of Caleb Ladd, in his native place, his term of service expiring February 26, 1825. On the 29th of the same month in that year he went to Providence, R. I., where he began work as a journeyman and continued there until June 21, 1831. At this date he came to New Bedford and carried on the same business down to January 1, 1845, when he engaged in the lumber business on Leon- ard's Wharf, in company with Henry T. Leonard. This firm connection continued until 1850 when it was dissolved and a new firm organized under the name of Greene & Wood. Mr. Greene retired from business in 1871, but the firm name still continues.

Of tried integrity in all business relations, Mr. Greene was recognized by his fellow citizens as a man whom they could trust in municipal affairs, and their trust was never betrayed. During 1871 he was a member of the Common Council, and in 1872, 1874, and 1878 he served as a member of the Board of Aldermen, acting the greater part of the time as chairman of the Committee on Public Property and performing effective and valuable work. Under his direction all the plans and contracts for the High School- house were made, and he also superintended the construction of the building, a duty for which his life work peculiarly fitted him.

Soon after coming to New Bedford, Mr Greene united with the First Baptist Church, by letter, from the Pine Street Church (now Central) of Providence. He was much interested in the building of the North Baptist Chapel, as shown by his purchase of the large lot of land on which the chapel stands, corner of County and Merrimac streets, and by his generosity and energy in building the chapel edifice. He also built the chapel parsonage and gave it to the society.

Mr. Greene was twice married; first to Miss Amy B. Gorton, of Warwick, R. I., who died May 22, 1876. Second, to Miss Lucy P. Parker on the 16th of October, 1877. He died on the 30th of October, 1887.

A BBE, DR. EDWARD P. Edward Payson Abbe, son of Alanson and Eliza W. (Barnes) Abbe, was born in Litchfield, Conn., November 28, 1827. He was fitted for College at Phillips Andover Seminary, and was graduated from Yale in 1848, and from Harvard Medical College in 1852. The next year he settled in New Bedford, Mass., and began the practice of his profession, which steadily increased, and has been his life work. He married, May 2, 1854, Mary Hooper, daughter of William G. and Eunice (Hooper) Blackler, of New Bedford. She came from an honored lineage. On her father's side she was descended from Thomas Gerry, esq., born in Newton Abbot, England, in 1702, and from Madam Elizabeth (Greenfield) Gerry, born in Boston in 1716. These were also the parents of Elbridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, and fifth vice-president of the United States. Her maternal grandfather was Hon. Nathan- iel Hooper, lineal descendant of Bishop Hooper, of England, and his family has been for several generations prominent in the State. They have three children who are now living-William, Edward and Mary Hooper. Mrs. Hooper was a woman greatly be-

HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.

loved. She had great energy of character and strong self-reliance, was an earnest, ac- tive, and valued member of Grace (Episcopal) Church. She died December 18, 1881.

Dr. Abbe quietly and without ostentation pursued his profession for thirty-five years, never finding time or inclination to engage in other pursuits. He has now re- tired from active service, in which he was eminently successful.

He stands, to-day. high in the esteem of the leading medical men of this section, and has occupied many positions of trust and honor in the medical organizations in the State.

Republican in his political affiliations, he has never cared for official preferment. He honorably served, however, as member of the School Board five years, but has sought honors only in the line of his profession.

P ERRY, JOHN HOWLAND, son of Nathaniel and Lydia (Hathaway) Perry, was born in New Bedford, November 30, 1818. His mother died when he was about four years old. John Howland, a prosperous Quaker for whom he was named. cared for and gave him an early start in life. He received his education at the Friends' Academy in New Bedford, and at the Friends' Yearly Boarding School in Providence, R. I. At the age of sixteen he gave up his books and engaged as clerk in the employ of Howland & Hussey, whom he served for two years. He then was associated with J. & T. Allen in the ship chandlery business, and at the end of two years purchased the interest of J. Allen. The co-partnership continued for three years.

In 1843 he engaged in the shoe and leather business with S. M. Burbank. In 1846 he sold out his interest to Jacob S. Parker. In 1847 Mr. Perry went into the coal, grocery and provision business at the corner of Walnut and South Water streets. In 1850 he associated himself with George Wilson, under the firm name of John H. Perry & Co., and carried on the several interests of the paint mill, coal and trucking business. They purchased the Parker House, and by the improvements made under their man- agement, this hotel was made a model of public convenience. In 1866 Mr. Wilson re- tired from the firm, and Col. Samuel C. Hart came in as partner, and the business was continued till 1873 under the old firm name of John H. Perry & Co. He was a large owner in coasting vessels, and through his efforts several schooners were built and added to the New Bedford fleet. Among these were the schooners John H. Perry, Hattie Perry, Samuel C. Hart, Benjamin B. Church, Warren B. Potter and Elisha Gibbs. After closing his business connections in New Bedford, he moved to Boston, where he resided for ten years. He was associated as silent partner in the music publishing business with his son, John F. This enterprise was eminently successful, and many of the most popular music publications ever issued in this country were published by this house.

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History of New Bedford and its vicinity, 1620-1892, Part 79

Author: Ellis, Leonard Bolles Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Mason Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Ellis, Leonard Bolles
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., Mason
Number of Pages: 1170