USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 2 > Part 15
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Grace S., who was born October 7, 1903. Both are now attending school.
Mr. Ellis is well known as a loyal representative of the Masonic fraternity and is now serving as secretary of St. Albans Lodge, F. & A. M., of which he is a past master. He is also district deputy grand master of the Twenty-eighth Masonic District of Massachusetts. He is likewise connected with Keystone Chapter, R. A. M., and he belongs to Excelsior Lodge, I. O. O. F. He is likewise treasurer of the local Board of Trade. He has been a member of the town re- publican committee and served as its secretary for a number of years. His life has been actuated by the teachings of the Congrega- tional church, of which he is a loyal adherent. Those who know him, and he has many friends, esteem him for his genuine worth and his marked devotion to duty in office and in every relation of life.
JOHN C. FRASER, M. D.
Dr. John C. Fraser, who since 1876 has been engaged in the prac- tice of medicine at East Weymouth, was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, August 2, 1853, a son of John and Mary (Chisholm) Fraser, who were natives of Scotland. The father came to America in 1832, settling in Antigonish, where he engaged in farming. He met with substantial success in his undertakings and continued to make his home in that locality until his demise, which occurred in August, 1883. His widow survived him for a decade and a half, passing away in September, 1898.
Dr. Fraser of this review was reared and educated in Nova Scotia. After completing his literary course by graduation from a college there he entered the Harvard Medical School in 1873 and was grad- uated from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College with the class of 1876. The same year he located for practice in East Weymouth, where he has since maintained his office, and throughout the inter- vening period, covering more than forty-one years, he has enjoyed a large practice that indicates him to be one of the most capable physicians in eastern Massachusetts.
In July, 1880, Dr. Fraser was married to Miss Mary A. Boyle, a daughter of Thomas and Katherine (Cullen) Boyle, the former a native of Ireland, whence he came to America in early life, settling at East Weymouth, where he engaged in the confectionery business throughout his remaining days. He died in 1906 while his wife was
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called to her final rest in 1903. To Dr. and Mrs. Fraser have been born five children: Mary G., who is now the wife of Dr. Whelan, of Hingham, Massachusetts; Archibald McKay, a practicing physi- cian, who is now a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the United States army ; Katherine E., at home; Somers, a physician of Boston, who is now serving with the rank of captain at Camp Devens at Ayer, Massachusetts ; and Irene A., who is a teacher in a high school at East Weymouth. Dr. and Mrs. Fraser afforded their children good educational opportunities and all are college graduates.
Dr. Fraser is a Catholic in religious faith and holds member- ship with the Knights of Columbus. Politically he maintains an independent course. He has served on the school board for six years and is medical examiner for Norfolk county. He is also president of the Norfolk South District Medical Society and is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Association, the American Medical Associ- ation and the Massachusetts Medical Legal Society. He is now serv- ing on the exemption board and his progressiveness in citizenship is manifest in his active identification with many interests that are look. ing to community welfare and national interests.
HON. GEORGE ALBERT WALES.
Hon. George Albert Wales is one of the valued and well known citizens of Stoughton. He has been identified with its manufacturing interests, has served as postmaster and has also represented his dis- trict in the state legislature. He was born March 26, 1858, in the city which is still his home, his parents being George and Emily F. . (Richards) Wales, the former a native of Stoughton, while the latter was born in South Weymouth, Norfolk county. The paternal grand- father, Martin Wales, was also a native of Stoughton, so that the family has been represented in the city through five successive gener- ations. George Wales, Sr., engaged in the manufacture of boots and shoes and was also a retail shoe dealer of Stoughton, being thus con- nected with the commercial and manufacturing interests of the city throughout his entire life. He was regarded as one of the best judges of shoes and leather in the state and was also accounted one of the foremost salesmen in connection with the trade. He conducted an extensive business during the period of the Civil war but lost heavily through those to whom he had extended credit in the southern states. His wife's people were all manufacturers and leather dealers, so that
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GEORGE A. WALES
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIDIAMY
ASTOR, LETOS TILDEN FOUNDEIN.L R
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the name of Wales has been long and closely associated with the leather trade and shoe manufacturing interests of eastern Massachu- setts. George Wales, Sr., departed this life March 4, 1904, when he had reached the age of sixty-nine years, and his wife died in Decem- ber, 1864, when but twenty-nine years of age. He later married again and by that union there was one daughter, Emily F., who still resides in Stoughton.
George A. Wales, the only child of the father's first marriage, was reared and educated in Stoughton and supplemented his public school training by a course in a commercial college at Boston, being thus thoroughly qualified for life's practical and responsible duties. He chose the occupation to which he had been reared. He went to work in a shoe factory and started out by mastering the tasks of the workman at the bench. In fact he learned the shoemaker's trade in every detail before leaving school. A year after leaving school he became ill and had to abandon work in the shoe factory. He then turned his attention to the grocery and provision business, which occupied his attention for two years. This enabled him to be out of doors much of the time and in that way his health became re- stored. He then returned to the shoe factory, entering the employ of Wallace & Elliott, with whom he continued for a year, at the end of which time he was given charge of a department, being then but eighteen years of age. He continued to act in that capacity for twenty years and during that period the output was increased to one hundred dozen pairs of shoes per day. Desirous of engaging in business on his own account, however, he eagerly embraced the op- portunity and formed a company under the style of the Wales-French Boot & Shoe Company, of which he became the president and man- ager. This business was continued for four years, at the end of which time they sold out. Mr. Wales then went to Campello, South Brockton, Massachusetts, where he was associated with the George Keith Shoe Company, manufacturers of the Walk Over shoes. His identification with that house covered two years.
On the expiration of that period Mr. Wales was appointed post- master of Stoughton, which position he acceptably and creditably filled for thirteen years or until February, 1915. During that period the rural and city delivery was started and the business of the post- office at Stoughton was greatly increased. He was also in charge of the postal savings and of the city delivery and in fact the interests of the office more than doubled during his administration. He proved adequate to the demands made upon him, however, and placed the business of the office upon a very substantial basis. In
Vol. II-10
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1917 he was elected from his district to the state legislature, repre- senting Randolph, Stoughton and Sharon in the general assembly. He made an excellent record and was connected with much con- structive work of the house. He has long been actively identified with public and political affairs and his influence has always been on the side of progress and improvement. He has served on many important committees and no project or plan for the general good has sought his assistance in vain. His service in the state legis- lature in 1917 was not his first experience in this connection, for in 1895-6 he had also been a member of the house of representatives, having been sent from the district comprising Walpole, Sharon, Avon, Stoughton and Randolph. He continued his activity in con- nection with business interests of his town, becoming one of the organizers of the Stoughton Cooperative Bank, of which he remained a director and the auditor for many years. He is still one of the stockholders.
In May, 1881, Mr. Wales was united in marriage to Miss Mary Eliza Kellogg, a daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Capen) Kellogg, who were natives of West Brookfield and of Stoughton respectively. Mrs. Wales was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, where her parents had located in early life. Her father there worked at the trade of harness making and carriage trimming and afterward engaged in business along those lines on his own account. He died in May, 1875, and his widow survived only until December, 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Wales have become the parents of two children. The elder, Helen L., is the widow of Frank S. Farrell, a chemist of note and also a musician, who lived for only twenty-four hours after his marriage. Mrs. Farrell is a graduate of Wellesley and also took special work at Harvard University, Massachusetts Agricultural College, Boston University and Cornell University. This with two years of prac- tical laboratory work as assistant chemist in a large chemical man- ufacturing company particularly fits her for her present position as instructor in science at Bradford Academy. The younger daugh- ter, Ethel Frances, is the wife of Walter F. Edwards, who is a first lieutenant of the National Army, now stationed at Camp Devens at Ayer, Massachusetts. They have one child, Margaret Louise.
Mr. Wales has ever been most deeply and helpfully interested in matters of general concern in Stoughton and Norfolk county. He is a representative of one of its oldest and most prominent families and his ancestors have been prominent factors in molding public thought and action and in directing public interests here. His people for generations have been well known manufacturers of shoes and leather
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goods. At the time of his grandfather's death he was president of a railroad, president of one bank of Stoughton and director of two others. All this he had accomplished in the course of his life, for he started out in the business world empty-handed and it was through the force of his character, his determined purpose and his unfaltering energy that he gained the prominent position which he occupied in business and financial circles-a position which won for him the honor and respect of all who knew him. The house in which Mr. Wales' father was born is one of the old mansions of Stoughton and is situated in the heart of the town.
George A. Wales of this review has always been interested in the old Stoughton Grenadiers, one of the old-time military organizations of Norfolk county. He is also a member of the Stoughton Historical Society and is keenly interested in everything that has to do with the perpetuation of the records which mark the progress and upbuilding of this section of the state. Like his grandfather, he has become a factor in financial circles of his native city. He was one of the organ- izers of the Stoughton Cooperative Bank, served as one of its di- rectors for a long period and was its auditor for many years. He still remains one of its stockholders. Fraternally he is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and with the Masonic lodge and in his life exemplifies the beneficent spirit upon which these organizations are based. He is also a member of the Stoughton Board of Trade and has been interested in the many projects which the organization has put forth for the welfare of the city. He is a man of fine personal appearance, of genial manner, of cordial disposition and of genuine worth, and all who know him attest the fact that his friends throughout Stoughton and Norfolk county are legion.
HARRY L. HOWARD.
Harry L. Howard, prominently identified with business, profes- sional and political interests in Walpole, was born on the 6th of August, 1874, in Salem, Massachusetts, his parents being Eben S. and Ann M. (Welch) Howard, the latter a native of Shapleigh, Maine. The father was for forty years engaged in the grocery business in Peabody, Massachusetts, and in that city Harry L. Howard pur- sued his public school education, while later he attended the Salem Commercial School at Salem, Massachusetts, and afterward be- came a student in the Northeastern College of Law. He has figured
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prominently in musical and business circles and in professional con- nections since his school days were over. He was in early man- hood a flutist in an orchestra at Syracuse, New York, and afterward became teacher of flute in the Southern College of Music in Colum- bus, Georgia. He then devoted a number of years to the business of expert accountant and became accountant for the J. S. Fisher Lumber Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later for Hassett & Hodge, carriage manufacturers of Amesbury, Massachusetts, and for the Consolidated Phosphate Company of Boston. He was also at one time president of the Medfield Electric Light & Power Com- pany and was afterward accountant for the Norfolk Western Street Railway Company, of which he became a director.
In 1900 Mr. Howard was admitted to the bar and in 1898 was appointed by Governor Walcott as clerk of the district court of western Norfolk, which position he still occupies, his incumbency covering twenty years. In 1904 he was elected town clerk of Wal- pole and has been reelected at each subsequent annual election since that time. In 1915 he was elected water commissioner of the town of Walpole and is serving at the present date. In August, 1917, he was appointed by Governor McCall as government appeal agent. His public service has been of an important character and the en- dorsement of his work has come to him in his frequent reelections. He is also identified with financial interests of eastern Massachu- setts as a director of the Medfield Cooperative Bank, in which posi- tion he has continued since 1907.
On the 14th of July 1903, in New York city, Mr. Howard was united in marriage to Miss Nellie F. Mahoney and to them have been born four children : Harry F., Theodore R., Ruth L. and Phyllis E.
Mr. Howard is a member of the Walpole Board of Trade, of the Norfolk Republican Club and has served on the republican town committee. His military experience covers three years' service with the Massachusetts Militia of the Second Corps of Cadets at Salem, Massachusetts, and he did actual service in the Spanish-American war of 1898. Fraternally Mr. Howard is connected with the Elks lodge of Norwood. He also belongs to Orient Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Norwood; Hebron Chapter, R. A. M., of Norwood; DeMolay Commandery, K. T., of Boston; and the various Scottish Rite bodies, including Massachusetts Consistory, S. P. R. S., in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of Masonry. He is also identified with Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Boston and is very prominent and widely known in Masonic circles. His business abil-
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ity and his official activity have brought him prominently before the public and all who know him speak of him in high terms by reason of his genuine personal worth, capability and fidelity to duty.
GEORGE P. MASON.
George P. Mason was for many years actively identified with the business interests of Franklin and at a later period continued his residence there, although he had retired from business. He was born in Warren, Rhode Island, on the 2d of March, 1855, a son of Charles and Eliza (Peck) Mason, both of whom were natives of Swansea, Massachusetts. In young manhood the father learned the mason's trade and removed to Warren in order to engage in business there. In 1876 he removed to Cornish, New Hampshire, where he fol- lowed general farming for a number of years, but his last days were spent in Franklin, Massachusetts, where he passed away on the 1 1th of September, 1896. His widow survived him for a few years, her death occurring in Warren, Rhode Island, on the 23d of November, 1902. In their family were four children, of whom the eldest, Phoebe, died at the age of four years, while Charles C. passed away in Franklin, Massachusetts, on the 6th of March, 1892, and Edmund G. now makes his home in Raynham, Massachusetts.
The third of the family was George P. Mason, whose name intro- duces this review. He was largely educated in the public schools of Warren, Rhode Island, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty years and then removed to Franklin, where he conducted a market in partnership with his father-in-law, Charles W. Clark, until 1888. In that year he went to Boston, Massachusetts, as manager of a wholesale beef house and his business ability is in- dicated in the fact that he was retained in that connection for eighteen and a half years or until his health failed and he was obliged to discon- tinue business. He then returned to Franklin in 1909 and spent his remaining days there, passing away on the 4th of May, 1914, when in the sixtieth year of his age.
On the 3d of January, 1876, Mr. Mason was united in marriage to Miss Mary J. Clark, a daughter of Charles W. and Elmira (Albee) Clark, of Milford, Massachusetts. Her father was born in Franklin, where he remained during the greater part of his life, en- gaged in the market business. He died May 21, 1892, after which
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Mrs. Clark lived with her daughter, Mrs. Mason, until called to her final rest. She passed away in Brighton on the 12th of November, 1909.
Death again entered the Mason home when Mr. Mason de- parted this life in 1914. He had been a loyal member of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to Excelsior Lodge, A. F. & A. M., and also to Miller Chapter, R. A. M., of Franklin. His life was an exemplifica- tion of the beneficient spirit of the craft and his genuine personal worth as well as his business ability and his loyalty in citizenship gained for him the confidence and high regard of all with whom he was brought in contact.
CHARLES ALBERT TURNER.
Charles Albert Turner has continuously served in public office in Dedham since 1902 and his record is characterized by marked devo- tion to duty and by notable efficiency. A native of Maine, he was born in Salem on the 3d of March, 1855, his parents being Horatio Gates and Justina (Heath) Turner. The father was born in Salem, Maine, January 14, 1829, and in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1851, he wedded Justina Heath, also a native of Salem, Maine. In 1873 they became residents of Dedham, where they now reside. The father was for half a century engaged in street paving as a con- tractor in Boston. During the period of the Civil war he responded to the call for troops and enlisted as a member of Company E, Forty-seventh Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for a year. He was sent home in a very serious condition as a typhoid fever patient, lying in a dirty box car all the way from New Orleans to Boston for a period of six days and six nights. Such a condition naturally aggravated the disease and his health was so seriously impaired that he was no longer fitted for active service.
Charles Albert Turner spent his youthful days in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to the age of eighteen years and was a pupil in the public schools. From the time he left school he was connected with his father in the contracting business, to which he devoted his ef- forts and his energies from 1874 until 1896. In the latter year he was badly injured in an accident that disabled him for five or six years. In 1902 he was called to public office, being elected to the board of assessors of the town of Dedham, and he served as a member and clerk of the board until 1912. In the latter year he was elected
T
( HARLES A. TURNER
TIRNEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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collector of taxes for the town of Dedham and has been reelected at each succeeding election since that time, so that he has now filled the position for six years. Also since 1912 he has served as clerk of the board of sewer commissioners of Dedham, and he is inter- ested in all that pertains to the progress and development of the county seat and cooperates most heartily in plans and measures which advance public progress. He has been treasurer of the Dedham Board of Trade since 1904, in which year it was organized, and at no point in his career has he hesitated to give strong endorsement and active cooperation to every plan or purpose which he believes to be for the benefit of the city and its upbuliding.
On the 22d of May, 1878, in Dedham, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Miss Abbie Jane Gould, a daughter of Ebenezer Gould, now deceased. They have become parents of a daughter, Laura Frances, now the wife of Edward H. King, a resident of Reid- ville, one of the suburbs of Boston.
Politically Mr. Turner is a republican and fraternally he is connected with the Masons. He is a past master of Constellation Lodge, F. & A. M., is also a Knight Templar and a Noble of the Mystic Shrine. He is the secretary and treasurer of the Society in Dedham for the Apprehension of Horse Thieves and he is a member of the Mill Village Old Home Association. All this indicates the nature and breadth of his interests and his activities. He is a man of progressive spirit, alert and enterprising, constantly reaching out along lines of helpfulness, and his worth as an individual and as a citizen is widely acknowledged.
COLONEL EDWARD MARK GILMAN.
Colonel Edward Mark Gilman is the president and treasurer of the Reversible Collar Company and is thus active in the control and management of one of the important manufacturing interests of Boston, conducting business at No. 95 Milk Street. His identification with the interests of Norfolk county comes from the fact that he makes his home in Brookline. He was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, September 26, 1862, and is a son of the late Horace Way Gilman, who was also a native of the Old Granite state, born December 6, 1834, and a de- scendant of one of the colonial families of New Hampshire, the ancestral line in America being traced back to 1636, when two
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brothers of the name, Stephen and Moses Gilman, crossed the At- lantic to the new world, settling first at Unity, New Hampshire.
Colonel Edward Mark Gilman of this review is a direct descend- ant of Stephen Gilman. Both brothers took an active part in the colonization of the new world, particularly in the development and upbuilding of New Hampshire, and history mentions them as being among the most active, forceful an representative citizens of their time. Later some of their descendants participated in the Revolu- tionary war, in the French and Indian war and in the War of 1812. They were generally recognized as a family of marked military spirit who never hesitated to defend the interests of their country and sev- eral of the family won distinction in connection with American wars, while others were prominent in directing the destinies of state and nation in other ways.
Horace Way Gilman, father of Colonel Gilman, was a well known and successful manufacturer of Nashua, New Hampshire, and de- voted the greater part of his life to the manufacture of surface coated paper and cardboards. His business affairs were most carefully, wisely and profitably conducted, yet he never concentrated his efforts and attention upon the attainment of wealth to the exclusion of other interests with which the duty of every individual has to do. He served in the constitutional convention of his state and did every- thing in his power to uphold the political and legal status of the commonwealth and to advance the civic standards. He was a Mason of high rank, attaining the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite and the Knight Templar degree of the York Rite. He was equally prominent and active in connection with religious work and was wide- ly known throughout the country by reason of his prominence in the councils of the Methodist church. He was born on the 6th of De- cember, 1834. and passed away in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1894, at the age of sixty years, while on a visit to his son. His wife, who in her maidenhood was Adaline Woods, was also born in New Hampshire, and was descended from a family that was established on American soil in 1638. The first ancestor settled in Massachu- setts but afterward removed to New Hampshire, and his descendants, loyal to the cause of his adopted land, participated in the Revolution- ary war and in the War of 1812. Mrs. Gilman spent her last days at the old homestead in Nashua, New Hampshire, passing away in 1906. The family numbered five children, but only two are yet living Edward M. and William Virgil, the latter now a resident of Brook- lyn, New York.
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