USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > New Bedford > History of New Bedford and its vicinity, 1620-1892 > Part 84
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There is one class of incidents in the life of the subject of this notice worthy of spe- cial, although it must be a brief notice. One hundred and sixty-five times did he cross the Atlantic, and often did lie encounter wrecked and shattered ships, upon whose fast- sinking bulls the starved and exhausted seament had lain down to die, or from which came the faint cries of despairing and half-crazed women. At such times, we may say that it was his invariable rule to run every risk and to rescue the sufferers at every hazard.
There was not a particle of selfishness in his character on shore, but at sea, in such emergencies, he was almost unmindful of the dictates of prudence. In a record of such rescues now before us, written in his own hand, grown tremulous by age, he says, in entering an instance of more than ordinary danger, " How little a man knows himself when he sees a fellow-being in danger of his life! "-meaning unquestionably that then the sense of personal danger is quite lost in the overpowering instincts of humanity. There is something else too, in this record which we onght to notice. If a warm and generous humanity, strong only in its aspiration, but meek and lowly in the presence of bis God, make a man a Christian, Captain Crocker was as true a one as any chnrell in the universe can produce.
It has been said that in spite of outward appearances, no class of men is more truly reverential than that which studies the Creator and the Preserver in the wonders and fortunes of the great deep. This modest journal before us is entitled " A statement of cases of distress wherein R. R. Crocker was the instrument of a kind Providence in sav- ing thirty-two fellow beings from a watery grave." Through it runs the spirit with which it commences. Thanks for success are uniformly given. Not a favorable wind
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
springs up nor is an angry billow calmed, at the instant of a threatened catastrophe, but through the goodness of God.
A kind, generous, large-hearted old sailor, "who loved his fellow-men "-will he not fine, like the Arab in the story, that his "name leads all the rest," in the record of those "who love the Lord."
In April, 1833, the post of Secretary of the Bedford Commercial Insurance Com- pany in this city becoming vacant, he was invited to assume its duties, which invitation he accepted. In 1834 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of this State; but continued to fulfill the duties of secretary, for which he was particularly fitted, until 1845, when an assistant secretary was elected. This relieved him from cares and responsibilities which his increasing years rendered onerous. He was after- ward, upon a change in the management of the company, elected vice-president, al- most a nominal office, but to which, by the consideration of the stockholders, a hand- some salary was attached. He continued to frequent the office of the company, and was there as usual upon the Saturday preceding his death. His general constitution remained unimpaired to the last. His " age" was " as a lusty winter, frosty but kind- ly." He had no disease except the organic one of which he died. All will remember him, not in the advanced stages of senility, with impaired intellect, and a bowed and broken frame, but erect, hale and hearty, with a firm step, and almost juvenile activity.
When a man passes through a prolonged life not only without making an enemy, but constantly creating about himself warm and devoted friends, the conclusion that he was a good man is necessary and inevitable. This was the lot of Captain Crocker. We never knew a man more universally beloved. He attached everybody with whom he came in contact-his cotemporaries in age, young men and women, and little children. He had always a kind word and a smile ready for all.
All that is passed now. " Weary, and old of service," he has gone to his rest and to his reward. His ship is safely moored in eternal harbors; the vicissitudes of his voy- age of life are now over. Providence was good to him to the last, and he died as he wished to die, suddenly and without prolonged pain. His venerable form will no more appear in its accustomed and familiar place; his cordial voice will no more offer the civilities of the hour ; he has told his last story ; he has done his last kind act. Yet he leaves behind him a memory green and fresh as were his declining years-a memory that will be cherished in as many hearts as knew his own, and in every clime that he has ever visited .- Charles T. Congdon in the New Bedford Mercury, January, 1852.
H ART, SAMUEL COOK, son of David and Hannah B. Hart, was born in Little Compton, R. I., December 9, 1834. His early years were spent in his native vil- lage attending the common schools and working on the farm. The family moved to New Bedford when he was thirteen years of age. He entered the public schools at New Bedford and finished his education with a three years' course in the High School, then under that prince of instructors and disciplinarian, John F. Emerson. Mr. Hart formed early in life habits of industry and self-reliance, and during that period devoted to his education, by steady employment in intervening hours and on Saturdays he
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S. C. HART-CALEB L. ELLIS.
earned sufficient money to pay his board and support himself. For the year following his graduation from the High School he was a boatman on the Acushnet River. In 1853 he entered as clerk in a grocery and provision store, and in 1856 became one of the partners in the business.
When Abraham Lincoln called for volunteer troops at the beginning of the Civil War, Mr. Hart was second sergeant of the New Bedford City Guards, and with the company promptly responded, serving three months at Fortress Monroe. He was commissioned first lieutenant of Company D, Twenty-third Massachusetts V. M. on September 28, 1861, and was made captain of the company in July, 1862. He was appointed on Gen. C. A. Heckman's staff and continued in this service until March, 1864. He was then assigned temporarily for duty on the staff of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler, and in September, 1864, resumed his position with General Heckman. He was commissioned lieutenant-colonel, December, 1864, and mustered out of service at the close of the war in 1865. Colonel Hart's service in the army is thus briefly chronicled, and for its details the reader is referred to the chapter on the Civil War.
In April, 1865, he became a partner with Hon. John H. Perry in the coal, wood and paint business at the corner of South Water and Walnut streets. In 1874 the partner- ship was dissolved, and Colonel Hart associated himself with Francis T. Aikin and the business is continued up to the present time under the firm name of Hart & Aikin.
Colonel Hart was for many years a member of the fire department, and in 1874 oc- cupied the position of chief engineer. He was a member of the Common Council and Board of Aldermen at various times, covering a period of eight years. He has been a director of the Merchants' National Bank since 1874, and of the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Co. since 1886. He was president of the New Bedford Street Rail- way Co. from 1886 to 1891. He is director of Bristol County Fire Insurance Co. and of the Massachusetts Real Estate Co., a trustee of the New Bedford Five Cent Savings- Bank, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Odd Fellows, Knights of Honor, Knights of Pythias, Royal Arcanum, and Pilgrim Fathers. Colonel Hart was a member of Gov. John Q. A. Brackett's staff in 1890.
Colonel Hart is a man of unimpeachable integrity, retiring and unostentatious in his manners, yet possessed of strong purpose and perseverance. He is an enthusi- ast in his interest in public affairs and in the highest sense is esteemed a worthy and respected citizen. He married, September 28, 1858, Sarah N., daughter of Charles and Hannah Briggs, of New Bedford. They have had six children, five of whom are living.
E ALLIS, CALEB LORING .-- His ancestors, Capt. Joel Ellis and Elizabeth (Churchull), his wife, lived in the town of Middleborongh, Mass., in 1716.1 They had eight children :
Joel, jr., married Phebe Freeman and lived in Plympton, Mass.
Matthias, married Lucy Bennet.
' Middleborough Town Records.
0
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
Samuel, who had four wives, and lived in Plympton, Mass.
John, married Elizabeth Croomer.
Elizabeth, married Gideon Southworth.
Rebekah, married Samuel Lanman.
Charles, married Bathsheba Fuller.
Thomas, married Ruth Thomas.'
Joel Ellis, jr., by Phebe, his wife, had seven children : Joel, Benjamin, Freeman, Barzillai, Phebe, Betty and Patience. The father died March 18, 1783, at the age of seventy-three years, and his wife, Phebe, died November 5, 1792, at the age of eighty years.
Samuel Ellis, the third son of Joel, was born in 1715, and died in Plympton, Febru- ary 20, 1771. He married, December 3, 1741, Mary, daughter of Allerton Cushman, of Plympton. She died April 20, 1743. December 15, 1744, he married Mercy Marick, of Taunton, Mass., by whom he had one son, Stephen. She died February 18, 1749, or 1750. For his third wife he married Miss Lydia, daughter of Lieut. Zebedee Chan- dler, of Plympton. She died January 26, 1763. They had one daughter, Lydia. For his fourth wife he married Catharine, daughter of Rev. Othniel Campbell, the first min- ister of the Second or South Precinct of Plympton, now Carver. They had two chil- dren : Willard, born April 8, 1767, and Molly, born April 27, 1769.
Lieut. Stephen Ellis, son of the aforesaid Samuel Ellis, by Mercy, his wife, was born October 15, 1748, and died in Plympton, March 5, 1824. He married Susanna, daugh- ter of Ebenezer Thompson, of Halifax, Mass. They had nine children :
Mercy, born January 7, 1773, married Polycarpus Parker, of Plympton, died April 10, 1813.
Susanna, born October 25, 1774, married Lient. Chandler Wright, of Plympton, and moved to Boston.
Samuel, born November 15, 1776.
Stephen, born October 12, 1778, married Betsey Stephens, of Plympton.
Molly, born November 8, 1782, married Thomas R. Waterman, and moved to State of Maine.
Ebenezer, born August 26, 1784, married Polly Randall, of Plympton, moved to Boston.
Marick, born July 23, 1787, married Sophia Churchill, of Plympton.
Josiah Thompson, born September 20, 1789, married Sophia Wright, of Plympton.
Lydia, born May 8, 1793.
Lieut. Stephen Ellis was a prominent citizen of Plympton, and occupied many posi- tions of honor. He was selectman, moderator at town meetings, an officer of the mili- tia, and was, as the record reads, " a useful member of society."
Maj. Samuel Ellis, the third child of the aforesaid Lieut. Stephen and Susannah Ellis, was born in Plympton, November 15, 1776. He married, November 30, 1800, Abigail, daughter of Jonathan and Abigail (Loring) Parker, jr. The latter had six children :
Oliver, born August 29, 1766, died in Plympton, December 22, 1813.
John Avery, born September 25, 1769, died in New Bedford, December 30, 1853.
1 Extracts made from Plympton Town Records in 1834, by Town Clerk Bradford.
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CALEB L. ELLIS.
Ruth, born December 14, 1771, died November 2, 1772.
Jonathan, born July 17, 1774. Jacob, born July 10, 1776. Abigail, born August 17, 1778, died January 31, 1822.
Maj. Samuel and Abigail (Parker) Ellis had four children :
John Parker, born August 7, 1802.
Ruth Avery, born November 3, 1804.
Mary Loring, born July 31, 1807.
Caleb Loring, born May 26, 1813.
Maj. Samuel Ellis died of consumption in Plympton, June 18, 1817. He was acting lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of State Militia, and was in the service of coast de- fence during the War of 1812-15. It was while attending to his military duties that he contracted a severe cold that resulted in a rapid development of the disease of which he died. He was an upright, honest man, respected by his fellow townsmen, and was called to fill various offices of trust in his native town.
Caleb Loring Ellis, the subject of this sketch, and whose portrait may be found in this work, was the youngest child of Samuel and Abigail (Parker) Ellis, and was born in Plympton, Mass., May 26, 1813. The old homestead still stands on the road leading to the village green. It is an old fashioned farm-house, and with its surroundings is typical of a comfortable New England home of quite a century ago. His father and mother died when he was a mere lad, and he was left to the fostering care of his elder brother, Jolın. The latter married Sarah Holmes Barnes, of Plymouth, soon after the deeease of the mother, and faithfully did they perform their duties to the orphan children. The home was maintained, each performing their part in the labors of the farm. The village school, which was kept only during the winter months, and a pri- vate school taught by Rev. Elijah Dexter, the pastor of the village church, furnished them, perhaps, with as good an education as the average New England village of the time afforded.
When sixteen years of age Caleb went to Tremont, Mass., where he spent four years in learning the trade of making nail-casks. At the solieitation of his unele, John Avery Parker, he came to New Bedford (1833), and entered his employ in the cooper- ing business. Mr. Parker was largely interested in the whaling business, and his ships required many casks in fitting them for their voyages. Two shops were maintained, one located on the east side of North Sixth, between Elm street and Mechanic's lane, the other at the foot of Middle street near the entrance to the bridge. In a few years, by faithful and diligent service, Mr. Ellis was placed in charge of the business, and in 1849 he became proprietor. For more than thirty years he carried on a successful busi- ness, and was largely interested in whaling vessels and other enterprises of local char- aeter.
Mr. Ellis was intimately associated with the affairs of New Bedford, and his influence was always to be found in the maintenance of every interest that conduced to its growth and prosperity. He was a member of the old fire department, and served sev- eral times as one of its engineers. He was connected with the early movements of the Anti-slavery leaders, and an original member of the Free Soil party.
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
When New Bedford became a city, in 1847, he was elected for three years succes- sively a member of the City Council, and is now (1892) the only surviving member of the first city government. He held for several years the office of overseer of the poor. In 1855 he was elected a member of the Massachusetts Legislature. At this period the warfare between the Pro and Anti-slavery parties was very bitter and the strife frequent. The legislative halls of the Commonwealth were arenas for many a contest between these irreconcilable elements. The action of Governor Gardner was not sat- isfactory to the Anti-slavery party, and a fusion movement with the Temperance party was inaugurated at Worcester in 1856 in opposition to his renomination. Mr. Ellis heartily joined this movement, and by his position lost his re-election to the Legisla- ture for a second term. This honest, straight forward adhesion to principle led him to decline a renomination that was offered him by the Gardner party. The incident was not forgotten by his fellow-citizens, and he was elected a member of the State Legis- latures of 1861 and 1862. It was his honor and privilege to take an enthusiastic part in the contests that placed Henry Wilson in the Senate chamber at Washington.
Mr. Ellis was a member of the Board of Aldermen in 1871-72-73, under the admin- istration of Mayor George B. Richmond. During this period thie temperance question was an important factor in city politics, and his influence was steadily given to the cause. He declined a renomination for 1874, and since that time has held no political office.
Mr. Ellis is a prominent member of the County Street M. E. Church, and has been connected with it for a period of nearly sixty years, joining the original society on Elm street soon after he came to New Bedford in 1833. He was one of the associates that built the present edifice, and one of the burden-bearers that carried this enterprise through the financial crisis of 1859-60, and on through succeeding years until it was free from the burden of debt.
He was one of the original delegates that organized the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting, and a member of its finance committee in 1835. He was one of the first di- rectors of the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association and still holds that posi- tion, being the only one living of its original membership. He was one of the Board of Directors of the Vineyard Grove Company, and for two years its agent.
In 1889 his eyesight began to fail, and in a few months Mr. Elhs became almost blind. It was a great affliction to him, but during these days of darkness his spirits never lailed him. He accepted the situation and through it all maintained his wonted cheer- fulness and contentment. By a skillful operation his sight was restored and he again walks our streets, his four score years seeming to bear lightly upon him. He is a good type of a class of citizens that are too rapidly passing from this field of action, men who have by their public spirit, sterling character and integrity helped establish the good name and reputation of the city of New Bedford.
Caleb L. Ellis was married February 28, 1833, at Wareham, Mass., by Rev. Samuel Nott, to Abigail Dimek, daughter of Alexander and Polly (Westgate) Hathaway, of Wareham, Mass. Alexander Hathaway was the son of Savery and Hathaway, who had eleven children :
Lovey, born June 13, 1766.
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EDMUND ANTHONY.
Sarah, born April 10, 1768.
Ruhani, born December 14, 1769. Rebekah, born March 28, 1772. Charity, born April 1, 1774. Clifton, born June 10, 1776. Judah, born March 28, 1779.
Savory, born September 19, 1781.
Alexander, born May 2, 1783. Mercy, born April 27, 1785.
Dorathy, born September 1, 1787.
Alexander Hathaway was a Quaker preacher, and lived on a farm near the Rochester line. He was a man of unusual ability, and it is said of his exhortations in the Monthly Meetings of the Society of Friends that they were marked for original thought and deep earnestness. He was highly esteemed in the community, and was for many years prudential committee of the village schools in District No. 2 of the town of Wareham.
Alexander and Polly Hathaway were married June 15, 1803. They had ten chil- dren : Mercy, Rufus Fish, Lovey C., John, infant, Eveline, Abigail, Lydia W., Alex- ander, and William W.
Caleb L. and Abigail (Hathaway) Ellis were married February 28, 1833, and had nine children : Alexander Hathaway, infant son, Leonard Bolles, John Parker, Abby Parker. Caleb Loring, Mary Abby Loring, Horace Mann, and Mary Ella Loring.
A NTHONY, EDMUND, a name well known in Massachusetts journalism twenty- five years ago, was the son of Nathan Anthony and born in Somerset, August 2, 1808. His educational opportunities were limited. He entered a printing office in Taunton when but sixteen years of age. Being ambitious to progress he took advan- tage of all opportunities to broaden his mind and improve his education, and so far suc- ceeded that he soon became proprietor of the Bristol County Democrat, thus early taking an advanced position in his well chosen life work.
In 1842 he founded and made successful the Taunton Daily Gazette, but not content with this venture, and considering that a broader field might be found in New Bedford, he bought out a small job printing office and started as his new enterprise a daily and weekly, called respectively The Evening Standard and The Republican Standard.
It soon became apparent that though better situated than Taunton, New Bedford was not a promising field for an evening paper, yet the indomitable courage and tireless perseverance inherent in Mr. Anthony brought him success. Making a specialty of home news as well as obtaining all the foreign news possible, and presenting cogent and fearless editorials on political and social topics, he made not only a place for his paper, but soon it took advanced position in its territory. Appreciating the importance of the Associated Press he feared not the, to him, great expense of obtaining that service, and was for a long time its only patron in Southern Massachusetts. Papers of Fall River and Taunton received the dispatches largely through his enterprise.
Originally a Democrat, Mr. Anthony was one of the earliest of the Free Soil advo- cates, and became prominent among the organizers and leaders of the Republican party,
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HISTORY OF NEW BEDFORD.
giving it substantial assistance by his outspoken editorials. To his untiring energy the Evening Standard is indebted for its long continued success. His principle was per- sonal application and oversight. This fundamental thought he firmly impressed upon his sons, Edmund and Benjamin, who hecame his partners in 1863.
In company with his son-in-law, Benjamin Weaver. in 1864 he founded the Spring- field (Mass.) Union, but sold that business in a few years after firmly establishing it.
Mr. Anthony held many offices of trust and responsibility. He was town clerk in Taunton ten years, town treasurer six years, and later on for some time county treas- urer. During the war period he was United States deputy collector of internal rev- enue, also a member of the Common Council during 1856 to 1857, and 1859 to 1860, and a special justice of the police court for abont twelve years, resigning in 1870, hav- ing been appointed postmaster by President Grant, which office he held at his death, in 1876.
Mr. Anthony was a staunch Methodist and did much to aid and support his denom- ination, being, as steward and trustee, long an official member of the County Street M. E. Church. He was three times married, his first wife being Adaline Soper, who bore laim four sons and died in 1837. He subsequently married Nancy J. Hodges, by whom he had several children. His third wife was Mrs. Henrietta Woodward, who still survives him.
Mr. Anthony died January 24, 1876, of apoplexy. He was a man who loved work for work's accomplishment, and having served in all departments of his profession, was well fitted for directing others. His employees always did their best, holding him in the light of a fellow workinan rather than an exacting taskmaster. Strong in his con- victions, clear in his statements, and outspoken where principles were involved, his counsel was ever in demand by nis friends and Ins opinions respected by his opponents. Many New Bedford citizens to-day, holding dear the memories of her prominent men, call to mind with pleasure Edmund Anthony, whose face expressed keenness, strength, determination, yet had withal a smile of expressive friendliness. A rare man of the pure New England type.
R USSELL, WILLIAM TALLMAN.'-One after another of our old merchants are leaving us, representatives of a period when our place was in its highest com- mercial prosperity, many of them men of sterling worth, as well as ability. Among them who represented this elass in our community forty years ago, stands forth prom- inently our late fellow citizen, William T. Russell, who died at his residence in this city on the 6th of March, 1872, at the age of eighty-three years and four months. He was the oldest living representative of the oldest merchant of New Bedford, being a grand- son of Joseph Russell 3d, and a lineal descendant of Ralph Russell, who emigrated from Pontipool, Monmontlishire, England, in the early part of the seventeenth century, and was among the earliest settlers and landed proprietors of the old township of Dart- mouth. The father of our departed friend, Gilbert Russell, was also extensively en- gaged in the business of our place. Soit will be seen that his ancestors had well pre-
I Written by Daniel Ricketson (1876).
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WILLIAM T. RUSSELL.
pared the way for his own interest in commercial pursuits. He received a good English education at the boarding school of Elisha Thornton in Smithfield, R. I., and the Friend's School at " Nine Partners," Dutchess County, N. Y. Afterwards he served an ap- prenticeship as clerk in the counting-room of Post & Russell, New York city. At the close of the last war between this country and England, in 1815, he made a voyage to Europe in the ship Lorenzo, of which his father was principal owner, and Elisha Dun- bar, master. A pleasant little incident occurred to him while in Liverpool, which may be of interest to his friends, as follows : While about to take his dinner at the "Adelphi Hotel," a gentleman in the costume and with the address of a Friend, who was also about to dine, proposed to join him, to which proposal our friend readily assented. During the conversation he remarked to his unknown companion that he had the pre- vious day attended the Friends' meeting and was much pleased with the preacher, in- quiring if he knew who she was. "Why, yes," the Friend replied, "I know her very well, she is my wife, Elizabeth Fry ; " at the same time giving him a cordial invitation to call upon them in London. After his return home he made another voyage to Eng- land in the same ship, taking the command and successfully performing the voyage, which, on the outward passage, it being nearly spring, was very stormy. During this trip he visited London, and traveled north as far as York, visited many objects of in- terest, an account of which he was fond of rehearsing during the latter part of his life, and having a good memory his narrations were often very interesting. Soon after his return from England, having business in New Orleans he made a journey on horseback to the then " Far West," from whence he proceeded by public conveyance to the place of his destination. Here he purchased the ship Alliance and returned in her to New York : from which time he became engaged in the whale-fishery and manufacture of candles in connection with the house of William R. Rotch & Co. His brand of candles, as well as his oil, had a high reputation in the market, for in whatever he undertook his endeavor was for excellence, and he usually succeeded. He was also subsequently engaged in the South American trade. In the year 1849 he was appointed collector of the port, holding his office until 1853, and giving the highest satisfaction to the gov- ernment and the public. It is no disparagement to any one to say that this office was never more honorably or efficiently administered than by him. Soon after the death of Capt. Roland R. Crocker, secretary of the "Bedford Commercial Insurance Com- pany," he became his successor, an office for which his long and intimate acquaintance with the business of our place so well qualified him, and which situation he held until his decease.
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