USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880 > Part 76
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789
HON. DAVID H. MASON.
lature, and reducing the details to a practical working level, is due to D. H. Mason, Esq., whose efforts in bringing to an adjustment tlie long contested Brighton Bridge case, and the prominent part he lias taken as counsel for Railroad Corporations before the Legislature, has caused him to be regarded as one of the most eminent and successful counsel that appear before that body. This enterprise was entrusted to him; and the many difficulties that stood in the way were, by his untiring energy, all removed, and Boston will soon reap the advantage of having wide and well graded business streets, in place of narrow lanes leading to crowded tenement houses."
Of the action of the municipal and State authorities in removing the toll- gates from the Milldam road, and making that great thoroughfare free to the public, the same journal says,-"It is but just that it should be known that the credit of this is due principally to the persistent efforts of David H. Mason, Esq., of Newton, who for several years has given attention to this matter, presenting its importance before successive Legislative Committees with uniform success, and from time to time procuring the required legislation, until at last the public enjoy the great privilege secured."
In 1860 Mr. Mason was appointed on the Massachusetts Board of Educa- tion, of which for several years he was a very efficient meniber, and discharged the duties of that office with exemplary faithfulness. No demands of his private business were permitted at any time to interfere with his obligations to the State in this department of service. It was to him a labor of love, and he loved the labor.
Mr. Mason was also deeply interested in sustaining the high character of the schools in the town of Newton. In an account of the exercises at the dedication of the High School building at Newtonville, one of the journals of the day wrote as follows :
" It would not be invidious to the other friends of the enterprise to say that to Mr. Mason, perhaps more than to any one else, is the town indebted for the consummation of the enterprise. For three years, he has devoted to it his time and energies. Through his eloquent appeals and forcible arguments, he has overcome a persistent opposition; and in its darkest hours, when its firmest friends were almost tempted to despair, his voice was lifted in tones of startling eloquence, till success crowned his efforts. And the enthusiasm with which his name and his speech were received, showed that this was not the hour of his pride alone, but the pride of his friends for him." The Mason School of Newton Centre was named for him, as an honorary testimonial to his interest in the cause of education.
Allusion has been made above to Mr. Mason's patriotic spirit. During the war of 1861-5, he was unmeasured in his zeal to preserve the country and its free institutions unharmed, and to stimulate his fellow-citizens to all right and noble efforts. A notable instance of this occurred in an emergency in the war, when a large and enthusiastic meeting of citizens was held in the Town Hall of Newton. The design of the meeting was to take measures for equip- ping one or more companies of volunteer militia, and to take further measures for the support and comfort of the families of such as should be called into service.
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790
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
Mr. Mason offered a series of resolutions, which he supported with eloquent and patriotic remarks. He alluded to a previous meeting, where the patriotic men of the town expressed themselves as willing to sacrifice every thing for the cause of their country ; but the present meeting was one where prudence and calm judgment should rule the hour. The minds of men should not, in their enthusiasm, be carried beyond the proper line of duty ; while they are willing to give of their substance, judgment and discretion should so guide their actions, that, while every thing needed should be given unsparingly, noth- ing should be wasted. " Millions of gold and rivers of blood will not compare with the influence of this question ; for, on its solution hang the hopes of civil liberty and civilization throughout the world for ages to come. Let it not be said that we, of this generation, have been unfaithful to the high and holy trust."
The resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, are recorded on page 600.
December 22, 1870, Mr. Mason was appointed to the office of United States District Attorney for Massachusetts, in place of Hon. George S. Hillard, re- signed. The names of several respectable and able lawyers were pressed for this appointment; but Mr. Mason was nominated by the President, and confirmed by the Senate above all competitors, his appointment being regarded as a strong one for the Government, and highly acceptable to the people and the bar of Massachusetts.
While Mr. Mason administered this, his last, public office, some very important and celebrated cases were decided by the Court, which evinced the Attorney's wisdoni, sagacity, and legal knowledge and acumen. It is enough to say that lie discharged the duties of his position to the entire sat- isfaction of the Government and his friends, and his methods often won the highest commendation.
Mr. Masou died in Newton, May 29, 1873, after a lingering illness of sev- eral months, aged fifty-five years, and left a widow and four children. The numbers of distinguished persons at his burial, holding official positions in church and State, and who had participated with him in important enterprises, and the resolutions passed by Courts and various Associations of which he had been a member, attested the high estimation in which he was held.
JOHN P. PARKER was the son of Samuel Parker and grandson of Ebenezer Parker. Samuel Parker was married in 1770; his residence was in the south- easterly part of Newton, about a fourth of a mile southeast of Wiswall's pond. His son, John P. Parker, left Newton in March, 1809, never to return. The mother of the latter, Ann Palmer, daughter of Thomas Palmer, who lived near Brook Farm, he used often to speak of with affectionate remem- brance. She was reputed to be a good woman, of uncommon intellect. Her son was possessed of much energy and capacity. His education was mainly at the common schools of the town. He also attended the Academy at Framingham, and was very fond of, and became a proficient in, mathematical studies.
Not long after his adoption of the vocation of a sailor, he was promoted to the captaincy of a ship sailing in the distant Indian seas; and in this capacity
791
CAPTAIN JOHN P. PARKER.
performed his last long voyage from the Sandwich Islands to China and Cali- fornia, which lasted from three to four years.
A letter from Mr. Parker, addressed to Mr. William Kenrick, of Newton, gives, in his own words, a sketch of his life.
" HAWAII, HAMAKUA, September 12, 1864 .- Dear Sir,-I received your letter of inquiries after me by Mr. Jones, jr. I did not see Mr. Jones' father, for which I was very sorry, as I live at the above island. He was at Oaliu; but your letter to Mr. Jones, I received with pleasure. I did not receive it, however, till it was too late to send an answer by liim, but I shall forward this letter in answer to yours shortly after.
" I have been living on this island forty-eight years. I left home in March, 1809, and followed the seas for some years, with the intention of returning. I sailed from the Sandwich Islands in a ship belonging to Davis & Winship for Canton, China, and arrived there safe with a cargo of sandal wood. It being war-time with America and England, we were blockaded two years in China. I was tired of stopping there, and left for the Sandwich Islands, but did not arrive till sixteen months after. The vessel that I sailed in went to Columbia River and California before going to the Islands, but I have never been away from the Islands since. I have had a wife, and she has borne me three children, and I have sixteen grandchildren and four great-grandeliil- dren. I have had but one wife, and she has been dead four years. I have but one son living, and he is a good son and a great blessing to me, in a country like this, where there are no relatives to see and enjoy their com- pany. For a time, your letter of inquiry was the first one I have seen that thought of me, excepting my brother, while living, and my mother and sister. [Mrs. Eben Wiswall, of Troy, N. Y.] After they were all dead, then I did receive letters from my sister Wiswall's children. But since the war, I have not received any more, except one from Patience P. Ward; as you say she is living at Newton, I will write to her and send it by some con veyance.
" I went on shore at Hawaii under the protection of Kamehameha I., and have lived to see five kings, but begin to feel feeble with old age; I am seventy-four years old. I am as well as I can expect of one of my age.'
"The Sandwich Islands have been greatly improved lately by our coun . trymen, by many sugar plantations and other improvements. I have a great grazing farm of many thousand acres; and a great many bullocks, horses, sheep, hogs, etc. That is my business, the raising cf stock; I am very com fortable, thank God. The good advice of my mother, that it is which has kept me from bad courses. I do not use strong drink, and that is all that keeps people from being in good circumstances. Rum is the curse of this country. Many a good trader is ruined by rum.
" Give my love to all my old acquaintances, and all my friends that have been born since I left, not forgetting Mr. Jones, who brought your letter of inquiry about me."
Mr. Parker died at his residence on the Sandwich Islands, March 25, 1864. The following interesting account is taken from the Hawaiian Gazette of April 1, 1864 :
792
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
" The aged and venerable Jolin P. Parker, of Hawaii, died on Wednesday, the 25th ult., in Honolulu. His funeral was largely attended last Sunday afternoon, at the Bethel. Rev. S. C. Damon, in his remarks appropriate to the occasion, alluded to the long residence here, and sterling character of the deceased, and was followed by Hon. Curtis Lyons, by an address and prayer in Hawaiian. The body will be sent to Hawaii for burial.
"Mr. Parker was one of the few foreign men, whose term of residence ex- tends back into the reign of Kamehameha I. He visited these islands first in 1809, being then engaged in a sea-faring life ; but commenced his permanent residence in 1815. During most of the long period subsequent, fifty-three years, he lived in the district of Kohala, on Hawaii, engaged in agricultural pursuits and ranching, gathering about him, by his thrift, prudence and in- tegrity, a large property, and establishing a household, honored with chil- dren, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
" His ranch. or farm, at Mana, on the government road from Waimea to Hilo, was for many years noted for its hospitalities, and many a resident and stranger have reason to remember its open doors and kindly welcome.
" Mr. Parker conducted his household affairs in the truly patriarchal style. There were no hired servants in his house, no division and sub-division of interests. As a chief, he moved among his family and retainers, alike hon- ored and beloved of them all.
" To this moral and upright life, he added in its closing scenes, a submis- sion to the rites of Christianity, and a professed adherence to its faith. For many years, he had a chapel and a Hawaiian minister at Mana, for the relig- ious instruction of his household, and regular daily prayers, thereby encour- aging the Hawaiian race, to whom he had become affiliated by marriage, to adopt and practise the Christianity introduced upon the islands subsequent to his own settlement here. With his wife, who died some years since, he lived forty years.
" Mr. Parker had arrived at the advanced age of seventy-eight years - having been born in' Newton, Mass., in 1790. By reason of his strictly tem- perate habits and healthful employments, he enjoyed a vigorous old age. For some months, symptoms of failing health and increasing infirmities showed themselves, and he went down to Honolulu to seek medical advice, and to end his days. Dropsy intervened, which finally proved fatal."
OTIS PETTEE, of Newton Upper Falls, was the son of Simon and Abigail Pettee, of Foxboro', and grandson of Samuel and Elizabeth (Sherman) Pettee. His father had six sons and five daughters, and his grandfather (born 1690). had seven sons and six daughters. He married Matilda Sherman, of Fox- boro', September 25, 1817, and had six sons and three daughters. He died February 12, 1853, aged fifty-eight, leaving a fair estate, of which the inven- tory, irrespective of business liabilities, of course, was declared by the Judge. of Probate the largest that had been filed in Middlesex county.
Mr. Pettee rose to great practical usefulness, through his genius, industry and natural strength of character. From both his parents he inherited high qualities of intellect and heart. In his youth, he was occupied at his father's forge or farm, and had no advantages of mental culture, save the few weeks
793
OTIS PETTEE.
annually devoted to reading, writing and arithmetic at the common district school. But as he approached manhood, he gained light from treatises on the useful arts and sciences which fell in his way, and from converse with his gifted and intelligent father. With scarcely any other apprenticeship, he early exhibited a comprehension of mechanical principles, and a genius and skill in the construction of machinery, which caused him to become favorably known, and liis services to be sought, in situations requiring eminent ability of this kind.
After brief engagements elsewhere, he removed to Newton Upper Falls, and undertook the superintendence of the erection of the Mills of the Elliot Manufacturing Company (then composed of Hon. Abbott Lawrence, Thomas H. Perkins and others), and engaged to have the management of them after- wards. At the age at which he was called to it, this was for him a very honorable position, and he filled it in the most satisfactory manner. But his great energy and sense of unoccupied faculties made him desire a broader sphere of operations. Accordingly, in 1832 he resigned his office as superin- tendent of the Mills; and in the same village where they were situated, he erected suitable buildings, and commenced on a large scale the manufacture of cotton machinery entirely on his own account. In the year 1840, the Elliot Mills and property connected with them also came into his possession.
In the village which more especially formed the scene of his labors, he was a most useful citizen; and not only the cotton-mills, shops, and most of the homes, but the roads and other structures in and about the locality will long remain monuments of his activity and public spirit. The thousands to whom, at different times, he gave employment and showed kindness will long remember him with gratitude.
In 1839, one of his machine-shops, three hundred and sixty-six feet in length, was consumed by fire, with its valuable contents. The loss was estimated at about $100,000. Both before and after this date, he constructed the machinery for many of the larger cotton-mills in the New England and other States, including several in Tennessee; and likewise for a considerable num- ber of cotton manufactories, then first introduced, and most successfully, in the Republic of Mexico.
Mr. Pettee's improvements in cotton machinery have been greatly valued . for their practical utility. His Gear-Cone Double Speeder, or speeder with gears in hyperbolic series, was pronounced by the celebrated practical phi- losopher and engineer, Professor Treadwell, to be absolutely " perfect," he- adding that " the principles of it are eternal, and can never be improved upon so long as the world stands." One English author affected to doubt its dura- bility ; but the very first machines of the kind ever made by the inventor, after being in regular operation for about a quarter of a century, were still running, at the expiration of that period, in complete order. This invention has been extensively in use on this side of the Atlantic, though made only at Mr. Pettee's own shops.
With a sagacious foresight of the wants and capabilities of Newton and its vicinity, he projected the " Air Line Railroad," between the cities of Boston and New York, which, after various changes, has become the New York and
794
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
New England Railroad. He was the leader and moving spirit in this enter- prise, which at first encountered much opposition, and lived to preside over the construction and operation of one division of the road through the Upper Falls Village, and beyond.
It was characteristic of Mr. Pettee to say little and accomplish much. Thus, though it might concern the public, none but he and perhaps one of his fore- men, who was to lead the laborers, would know that he entertained a purpose to level some one of the difficult hills in the public road between Newton Upper Falls and Boston, until early some morning, when the company of laborers would be seen at the work. He thus, at various times, expended voluntarily hundreds of dollars on the highways. In acknowledgment of the benefits thus conferred on the public, the town of Newton, unasked, voted him, more than once or twice, a few hundred dollars, thoughi under no legal obligation.
Mr. Pettee loved farming and gardening, and conducted horticultural opera- tions extensively and with skill. The stone barn built by him, not far from his house, was of a size sufficient to contain four of the largest barns in New- ton. He never revealed liis plan in building such a structure; but as the morus multicaulis excitement prevailed in Newton about that time, the con- jecture was often expressed by his neighbors that his design was to embark in silk culture.
Mr. Pettee was honest, benevolent, conscientious and fearless. Throughi all vicissitudes, he held a very high character, not only for ability, but spotless integrity. At the Presidential election in 1844, he was one of the four or five men who voted the Liberty party ticket in Newton.
Various Associations passed commemorative resolutions on the occasion of his death. One of these, passed by the Stockholders of the Railroad, is sufficient to represent the method and spirit of the whole.
" Resolved, That the manly courage, which no reverses could shake, the equanimity and cheerfulness, which no hardness or injustice could disturb, the integrity, which neitlier favor nor frown could swerve, the indomitable industry, which no power but death could stay, illustrate the great qualities in the character of our friend, which will confer perpetual honor on his memory."
MARSHALL S. RICE was born June 10, 1800. He was son of Nathan Rice, a practising physician, who removed with his family, soon after the above date, to East Salisbury (Wayland). He received his early education in the district schools of that town, and, in the winter session, when the master, who was a physician, was called out to visit the sick, which sometimes hap- pened, the young pupil was designated to take his place in the school, and thus gained his first experience in teaching. After laboring on a farm two or three years, he determined to devote his life to teaching. He then studied at an academy in Westford for a single term. In the winters of 1821-3, he taught a district school in Wayland, at a salary of sixteen to eighteen dollars per month, and labored on a farm in the intervening summers. In 1824, he had charge of one of the schools of Dorchester, which was kept throughout the year. In May, 1825, he commenced a Boarding School for boys at New- ton Centre, whichi he continued twenty-three years. Mr. Rice was the main
795
DR. BARNAS SEARS.
support of the Methodist Society at Newton Upper Falls, from the begin- ning, and a man ever exercising a wide and good influence among his fellow-citizens. He was Selectman, and the Town Clerk of Newton twenty- seven years, holding his office,-the last in the series, - till the town became a city. He was Representative four years, commencing in 1846. He was twice married, and had five children ; one of them, the youngest, died in the war of the Rebellion. The eldest daughter died in 1847. The second daugh- ter married Rev. Alvah Hovey, President of the Newton Theological Institu- tion. The third married Rev. C. H. Carpenter, missionary to Burmah, and has been a very useful and honored assistant in missionary labor among the Karen people in that kingdom. Mr. Rice died February 21, 1879.
THOMAS RICE, JR., was a native of Newton Lower Falls, where he spent his whole life. He was an older brother of Hon. Alexander H. Rice, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1876-8. He was an eminent paper manufacturer, having large dealings with numerous customers, and fulfilling extensive contracts promptly and faithfully. For more than forty years, the Boston Daily Transcript was printed on paper from the establishment of which, for nearly the whole of that time, he was the directing and controlling head.
He was first elected Selectman of Newton in 1845, and labored diligently and efficiently for the best interests of the town until death called him away, after a service of eighteen years. For ten years he was Chairman of the Board. In 1857, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representa- tives, remaining in that body for three years. He was elected to the State Senate in 1863, and again in 1864. During 1865 and 1866, he was chosen a member of the Executive Council.
During the civil war, he was especially active in filling the quotas of the town, working night and day for the purpose. He was found everywhere during that period in the discharge of his duty ;- now at home, arranging to fill up the quotas of soldiers required of the town; now, repeatedly, at the front, looking after the necessities of the soldiers, ministering to their needs, comforting them in sorrow and hardship, looking after the dead, and tenderly conveying their remains back to their friends; and now, inquiring into the wants and griefs of the families they had left at home, if perchance he might supply the one and alleviate the other. He was a true patriot and lover of his country.
Mr. Rice died January 13, 1873, aged sixty-two years, and was buried in the village cemetery at Newton Lower Falls. Various associations and public bodies passed resolutions testifying to his merit.
BARNAS SEARS, D. D., LL. D., was born at Sandisfield, Mass., in 1802, and was a graduate of Brown University and of the Newton Theological Institu- tion. He was ordained pastor of the First Baptist church in Hartford, Conn., in 1827, but two years later gave up the pastorate to become a Professor in the Theological Institution at Hamilton, N. Y. In 1833, he went to Germany to study, and spent three years there. It was during this visit that he met and baptized the Rev. J. G. Oncken and several others, who had been led by their study of the Scriptures to hold Baptist views, and thus became the leader in an important movement in Germany.
796
HISTORY OF NEWTON.
On his return to America, Dr. Sears was elected Professor in the Newton Theological Institution. Here he remained from 1835 to 1847, during part of which time he was the President of the Institution. The name which he had honorably won as a teacher and executive, designated him as a fit suc- cessor to the Hon. Horace Mann, as Secretary and Executive Agent of the Massachusetts Board of Education, which position he held from 1848 to 1855. During these years, in which he resided in Newton, Dr. Sears was, most of the' time, an active and influential member of the Executive Committee of the Baptist Missionary Union. At a later period, he was for several successive years President of the Missionary Union, his term of service having ended with the meeting in Providence, in 1877.
In 1855, Dr. Sears was chosen to succeed Dr. Francis Wayland as President of Brown University, and remained at the head of that institution until 1867. In that year, George Peabody established a fund of $1,000,000, bearing his name, for "the encouragement and promotion of intellectual, moral and industrial education among the young of the more destitute parts of the Southern and Southwestern States of the Union." Dr. Sears was chosen as the agent for the distribution of this fund, by the ten trustees to whose care it was committed. In 1869, Mr. Peabody added another $1,000,000 to the fund, and other gifts were subsequently made, to the nominal value of $1,500,- 000, in Mississippi and Florida bonds. The services of Dr. Sears as agent of this fund have been very great. When he began his labors, not a single. Southern State had a well-organized public school system; now, every South- ern State has a public school system, and some of them are as well organized as those of any Northern State. To the wise and active labors of Dr. Sears, a large part of this result is due.
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