USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 2 > Part 7
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school, followed by a course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College which he completed by graduation on the 17th of May, 1893. He was employed on a farm until seventeen years of age and afterward was connected with a grocery store and a postoffice for three years before entering business college, thus gaining broad and varied experience along business lines and gaining knowledge that has proven of value to him in later years. Following his graduation from the commercial college he entered the treasurer's department of the Pope Manufacturing Company at Boston, with which he was connected until September, 1895, when he was obliged to leave his position on account of ill health. In April, 1896, he purchased a farm in South Walpole, Massachusetts, and there engaged in the raising of poultry and fruit and in the conduct of a dairy business until March, 1912, or for a period of sixteen years. At the latter date he purchased the insurance agency of John S. Allen of Wal- pole, which at the present time is conducted under the name of the Walpole Insurance Agency. He also has important interests in other connections, being president of the Walpole Cooperative Bank, of which he was the first clerk and treasurer, serving in 1912 and 1913, while since 1912 he has been one of its directors. He was also temporary clerk of the Walpole Trust Company during preliminary organization and he is a member of the executive committee of the Walpole Real Estate Association, Incorporated. His interests are thus important and of a broad scope and his activities have con- tributed to general development and progress as well as to individual success.
On the 8th of April, 1896, at South Walpole, Massachusetts, Mr. Whiting was united in marriage to Miss Florence Adelaide Bullard. a daughter of Charles H. and Mary E. (Thorndike) Bul- lard, of South Walpole, Massachusetts. They now have two chil- dren, Verna Mary and Edith Alberta.
In politics Mr. Whiting is a republican and for twelve years served as secretary of the party organization. From 1901 until 1909 he filled the office of assessor of taxes and was collector of taxes and town collector from 1909 until 1913. In the latter year he was called to the position of town treasurer, in which capacity he is still serving, and since 1910 he has also filled the office of justice of the peace. He is president of the Walpole Board of Trade and a member of the Walpole Men's Club. His religious faith is that of the Congrega- tional church and he is serving as deacon in Walpole. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and belongs to Saint Albans Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Foxborough. He is also a past master of Norfolk
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and Middlesex Pomona Grange No. I and a past master of Walpole Grange No. 215 of Walpole. He likewise belongs to Reliance Lodge, No. 137, I. O. O. F., of Walpole. His identification with any movement or activity indicates his belief in its efficacy as a factor in good government or as an element for individual progress and uplift. His has been a useful and active life fraught with good results and he has achieved his purpose and accomplished the objects for which he has labored.
HENRI L. JOHNSON.
Henri L. Johnson has passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey but in spirit and interest seems yet in his prime, keeping in touch with the trend of modern thought and progress. He is serv- ing as the president of the Stoughton Historical Society and few men are as well informed concerning events which have formed the his- tory of Norfolk county and of the state. He was born in Stough- ton in August, 1836, a son of Lewis and Esther (Talbott) Johnson, who were likewise natives of Stoughton, the former born in 1800 and the latter in 1803. The father was a farmer by occupation and also worked in the shoe factories of this section. He continued a resident of Stoughton throughout his entire life, passing away in 1867, while his wife, surviving for three decades, was called to her final home on the 15th of October, 1897.
Henri L. Johnson, spending his youthful days under the parental roof, is indebted to the public schools of Stoughton for the educa- tional advantages which he received in his youth. He then went to work in the shoe factories and was employed along that line until about 1869, when he entered into partnership with Henry B. Crane under the firm style of H. B. Crane & Company for the manufacture of shoes. They conducted the business for three years, or until 1872, when they consolidated their interests with the Upham Brothers factory and the firm style of Upham Brothers & Company was then assumed. The business was carried on under that style until the early 'gos, at which time their interests were incorporated and en- larged. Mr. Johnson has been connected with the business through- out the entire period and is the only one living of the original firm. There are but four members of the company, Albert A. Mead being the president, Charles S. Upham, treasurer, with Mr. Johnson and Dennis Toomey as stockholders. They concentrate their efforts
HENRI L. JOHNSON
THE NETWORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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largely upon the manufacture of ladies' high priced shoes and the output is about seventy-five dozen per day. Formerly they made men's shoes but have largely discontinued their work in that con- nection. The business has always remained one of the important productive industries of Stoughton and throughout all these years Mr. Johnson has occupied an important position in connection with the shoe trade of the city-a trade that has been one of the important sources of progress and prosperity in the community.
On the 24th of April, 1859, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Louise M. Atherton, of New York city, a daughter of Hiram and Hannah (Stoddard) Atherton, who were natives of Massachu- setts. The father became a shoe manufacturer and spent the greater part of his life in North Bridgewater, now Brockton, Massachusetts, where he passed away in 1849 at the age of forty-seven years. His widow survived until 1897 and had reached the eighty-sixth mile- stone on life's journey when called to her final rest. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson became the parents of two children: Helen L., the widow of A. S. Metcalf, who died in August, 1914, Mrs. Metcalf now making her home with her father; and Frank Lewis, who was acci- dentally killed August 4, 1896.
In religious faith Mr. Johnson is a Universalist and has ever been a broad-minded and liberal man. Politically he has maintained an independent course and has ever stood for high ideals in citizen- ship. In 1869 he represented his district in the state legislature. Since the organization of the Historical Society he has been con- nected therewith and for fifteen years has been its honored president, a position which he still occupies. He is a representative of one of the oldest families of the city and there are indeed few who equal him in knowledge concerning all that has had to do with shaping the annals of Stoughton. He is honored and respected by all who know him and most of all by those among whom he is best known.
FRED P. CHAPMAN.
Fred P. Chapman, president of the Franklin Yarn Company, conducting an extensive business at Franklin, Massachusetts, was born February 1, 1866, in the city in which he still makes his home, his parents being Elisha P. and Elizabeth Johan (Stewart) Chap- 'man. The father is a native of Brooklyn, Connecticut, and a representative of one of the old families of that state of English Vol. II-5
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lineage. The first of the name in the new world were three brothers who came to America during the early part of the seventeenth century. Elisha P. Chapman was a successful grocer who began business in Franklin in the early '6os and was accorded a liberal patronage throughout the entire period of his connection with the district. He retired from active commercial pursuits in 1912 and is now enjoying the fruits of his former toil in a well earned rest. His wife came of Scotch ancestry and was born at Orapreto, Rio Janeiro, Brazil. She passed away leaving two children, Fred P. and Hamilton J., the latter a resident of Rutherford, New Jersey.
Fred P. Chapman is the younger and in the public schools of his native city began his education. He afterward attended Dean Academy of Franklin and Tufts College of Boston, Massachusetts, and started out in the business world on his own account when twenty year of age. He was first employed as instrument or location man for the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad Company in the Indian Territory. He assumed the duties of the position in the fall of 1886 and continued in the service of the railroad company for a year and a half, gaining valuable knowledge and experience during his sojourn in the southwest. He next became paymaster for the Ray Woolen Company of Franklin, Massachusetts, which constituted his initiation into the woolen mill business. He continued with the Ray Company until about 1901 and was advanced from time to time until he became superintendent and agent for the company. In 1902 the Franklin Yarn Company was organized and Mr. Chapman be- came its first president and has since occupied that position. Through the intervening period of sixteen years his constructive effort, his administrative direction and executive force have constituted most salient and important elements in the unbuilding of the business, which has now reached extensive and gratifying proportions and largely stands as a monument to the ability of the president.
On the 16th of June, 1890, Mr. Chapman was married in Frank- lin to Miss Clara Craig, a native of Walpole and a daughter of Charles B. and Melvina (Jenks) Craig. They have become parents of three children, Gertrude C., Boyd Palmer and Donald B., all born in Franklin.
Since age conferred upon Mr. Chapman his right of franchise he has been a stalwart champion of republican principles, and while he has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking, he served for twelve years as a member of the school board of Franklin and the cause of education found him a stalwart champion. He was at one time water and sewer commissioner of Franklin and he also
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represented his district in the general court of Massachusetts in 1910 and 1911. Fraternally he is a Mason, having been initiated into the order in Excelsior Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Franklin, in 1888. He has filled all of its chairs and is a past master. His religious faith is that of the Universalist church and he was formerly clerk of the church. He never becomes connected with any movement or organ- ization but what his cooperation is sought in its management and control-a merited recognition of his ability, forcefulness and re- sourcefulness.
EMERY BENTON GIBBS.
Emery Benton Gibbs, an active representative of the Boston bar, living in Brookline, was born in Byron, Oxford county, Maine, on the 23d of October, 1862. He is a descendant of Mathew Gibbs, planter, who settled at Charlestown, Massachusetts, in 1650 and in 1651 wedded Mary Bradish, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Another of the ancestors in a later generation was Jacob Gibbs, who lived in Framingham in 1740, and owned land on both sides of the river where later the Shepard paper mill was built-a site that was afterward taken by the city of Boston for its water system. Still another ancestor was Joseph Gibbs, a lieutenant of the Continental army, who marched to Concord with his company on the 20th of April, 1775, and Pelatiah Gibbs, who served throughout the Revolutionary war. The grandmother of Emery Benton Gibbs in the paternal line was Polly (Stearns) Gibbs, the daughter of Phineas Stearns, who was one of the members of the Boston Tea Party and also an officer in the Continental army, being in command of the Continental forces on Dorchester Heights when the British evacuated Boston. Emery B. Gibbs is the son of Phineas Stearns Gibbs, who married Mary Catherine Meserve, a descendant of Clement Meserve, of Ports- mouth, New Hampshire, who there located in 1673. He was one of the Meserve family of the Island of Jersey, where the family record is complete since 1308. This family is noted for the large number of judges, judge advocates and attorney generals that it has contributed to the public service.
Emery B. Gibbs pursued his early education in the proverbial "little red schoolhouse" and afterward spent three terms as a student in the Hebron Academy. He then took up the profession of teaching, which he followed in the public schools, spending one year as
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principal of the Buckfield high school, after which he entered the Coburn Classical Institute, from which he was graduated in 1884. He next became a student in Colby College and received the Bach- elor of Arts degree upon graduation with the class of 1888. He then entered the Boston University Law School and received the LL. B. degree in 1891. Born upon a farm, he worked in the fields all through his school and college vacations and his first professional activity was in the field of teaching, which he followed with success in both the ungraded country schools and in village high school and again as principal of Somerset Academy. He regarded this, how- ever, merely as an initial step to other professional labor and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1891. He has since engaged in the practice of law. He served for many years as a bail commissioner of Norfolk county, Massachusetts, and was appointed by the United States district court referee in bankruptcy for the county of Norfolk in 1898 and has occupied that position continuously to the present time. He has also been appointed to sit as master in many cases in the United States courts and in the state courts. In addition he has acted as trustee of the Babcock Hill Land and as one of the trustees of the Boston Baptist Social Union, which under the will of Daniel Sharp Ford was given the Social Union building, formerly the Youth's Companion building, and also a large trust fund with which the Ford building was erected.
With various public activities Mr. Gibbs has been prominently associated. He is identified with the republican party and he was a member of the Brookline town committee from 1894 to 1900, serving as its secretary in 1895. He has done much to further municipal affairs in Brookline and to solve important questions of town gov- ernment. He was the first one to have the civil service extended to include Brookline and regulate the appointment of policemen and firemen, securing to both tenure of office. He was also one of the first to secure pensions for men disabled in the service and a retiring pension as well. On his initiative the office of town engineer was created and that of town accountant. Mr. Gibbs served for many years on the Committee of Thirty to consider and report to the town on all annual appropriations. He has acted as moderator of the annual town meeting and in 1916 was town meeting member from Precinct No. 3, under the Brookline modified form of town govern- ment. He has also been called upon for judicial service, representing the town of Brookline in 1897 in the great and general court of Massachusetts.
On the 13th of January, 1892, in Yarmouth, Maine, Mr. Gibbs
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was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Barbour, a daughter of Henry N. and Mary (Chapman) Barbour. They have become parents of two daughters: Elisabeth, who is now a student in a school of design in New York city; and Mary Karolen, who is attending Wellesley College as a member of the class of 1921.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Baptist church, their membership being in Brookline, and Mr. Gibbs served as treasurer of the church in 1892-3, as superintendent of the Bible School in 1899-1900 as member of the board of deacons and trustees from 1907 until 1914 and on the building committee to erect the present meeting house at the corner of Beacon and Park streets in Brookline. He is also a charter member of the New England Baptist Hospital, of which he has served as trustee since 1895 and of which he was president in 1898 and 1899. He is likewise a charter member of the Lord's Day League of New England and has been a director since its organization in 1892. He likewise belongs to the Boston Baptist Social Union and was its president in 1908 and 1909. Fraternally he is connected with the Delta Kappa Epsilon and is well known in Masonic circles, holding membership in Beth-horon Lodge of Brookline since 1892. He served as master of the lodge in 1907-8, was senior grand deacon of the grand lodge in 1909, district deputy grand master of the Fifth Masonic District in 1912 and 1913 and became deputy grand master in 1914. He belongs to the Boston City Club and he is thus well known in connection with activities which have had much to do with the material, intellectual, social, political and moral reform, advancement and progress of the community.
JAMES EDWARD PENDERGAST.
Although a native of Dedham, James Edward Pendergast has spent the greater part of his life in Norwood, where he is now filling the dual position of town accountant and town clerk, having been called to the former position by appointment in June, 1911. He was born in 1877, a son of Patrick J. Pendergast, who is a native of County Waterford, Ireland, born in 1851, but during his infancy he was brought by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Pendergast, to the new world, the family home being established in Norwood, where the grandparents passed away. The father is still a resident
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of Norwood, but his wife, who bore the maiden name of Margaret Cornick, departed this life in 1892.
James E. Pendergast became a pupil in the public schools of Norwood, where he mastered the branches of learning that usually constitute the public school curriculum. When his textbooks were put aside he accepted a position as a grocery clerk and was thus identified with commercial interests of Norwood for nineteen years. In June, 1911, he was appointed to the office of town accountant and in January, 1915, the office of town clerk was created and the duties added to those of town accountant, so that he is now serving in both positions. He is likewise known in the financial circles of the city as a director of the Norwood Cooperative Bank.
On the 27th of June, 1901, in Walpole, Massachusetts, Mr. Pendergast was united in marriage to Miss Nora G. Dalton, a daughter of the late Patrick Dalton, and their children are Richard, Jerome, Mary, James, William, John and Nora.
The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church and Mr. Pendergast is identified with the Ancient Order of Hiber- nians. His political allegiance has always been given to the demo- cratic party and he stands stanchly in support of its principles and does all in his power to promote the success of the party. He is well known in Norwood, where practically his entire life has been passed, and the circle of his friends has constantly increased as the circle of his acquaintance has broadened.
JUDGE EVERETT C. BUMPUS.
Judge Everett C. Bumpus, classed with the eminent American lawyers and jurists, his public service also entitling him to rank with New England's most prominent men, was born in Plympton, Mas- sachusetts, on the 28th of November, 1844, and for more than a half century has been an active representative of the bar of Quincy. He is a son of Cephas C. and Amelia D. (Foster) Bumpus. Both the Bumpus and Foster families were established on American soil at an early period in the colonization of the new world, the Bumpus family having been founded in Plymouth in 1620. In the Revo- lutionary war record appears the name of Captain Bumpus, a mem- ber of this family and representatives of the name were also officers in the War of 1812. Cephas C. Bumpus was born at Plympton, Mas- sachusetts, while his wife was a native of Kingston, Massachusetts.
JUDGE EVERETT C. BUMPUS
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
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He was for many years connected with the railway business but at the time of the Civil war put aside all business and personal con- siderations to espouse the Union cause and served for three years as a captain in the Fourth Massachusetts Infantry and also in the Thirty- second Massachusetts Infantry and still later in the Third Artil- lery. His son, Edgar L., who also became a captain in the Union army, was killed during Sherman's march from Atlanta to the sea. Following his return from the war Captain Cephas C. Bumpus was continuously in office in Boston to the time of his death, which occurred about 1897.
Judge Bumpus, leaving high school at the age of sixteen years, enlisted for active service in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment and later was connected with the Forty-fourth Regiment. At the age of eighteen he was made an officer in the Third Artillery and in 1865 was promoted to the rank of captain of his company, with which he remained on active duty until mustered out in September of that year. Following his return from the war, Judge Bumpus took up the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He first located for practice at Weymouth, Massachusetts, and was well known as a trial justice until 1872. In that year he was made justice of the district court of Norfolk and a decade later was called to the office of district attorney for Norfolk and Plymouth counties, which position he continuously filled until 1887, when he declined future service of that character. He then entered upon the active practicc of law, specializing in public franchises, and later he became com- missioner of important water cases in Massachusetts and in fact throughout New England, being considered a leader in that class of work. In 1908 he was made one of two American commissioners to negotiate the Panama treaty, involving the examination of titles to the earliest settlement of Panama. Later he was employed by the department of state to act in reference to the boundaries of waters between the United States and Canada and about 1911 he devoted his energies to the preparation of a series of legal articles for a business men's encyclopedia. He became one of five men who organized the selling of the Encyclopedia Britannica in the United States. At the present writing he is serving as city solicitor of Quincy. The extent and importance of his public service places him with those men to whom the community, the state and the country owe much. His work has been of great benefit and the results achieved have con- tributed to the welfare of the country.
On the 22d of September, 1868, Judge Bumpus was united in marriage to Miss Emma F. Russell, who passed away in 1887. They
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were the parents of four children. Arthur L., the eldest, is now a minister of the Episcopal church at Brooklyn, New York. Everett Chauncey, who became blind at the age of six years, attended Har- vard University and was admitted to the bar, ranking first in a class of fifty members. He died in 1901. Edward A., born in 1874, also a graduate of Harvard, went to the defense of his country as a soldier of the Spanish-American war and was promoted to the rank of captain for bravery and gallantry in China. He was killed at Balanga Samar in the Philippines, where the entire company was annihilated. Christine L., the youngest of the family, is the wife of E. W. Remmick, a resident of Brookline, Massachusetts. For his second wife Judge Bumpus chose Mary Louise Bates, of Canan- daigua, New York, who died leaving two children, Morris E. and Foster C. The former is a graduate of Williams College and a member of the bar and is now a lieutenant in the United States army. The latter is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at An- napolis and is serving in the navy with the rank of lieutenant, senior grade.
Judge Bumpus was formerly a member of the Union, Algonquin and St. Botolph Clubs of Boston and now holds membership in the Loyal Legion, the Papyrus Club and the Curtis Club. His political endorsement has always been given to the republican party. He became a resident of Quincy in 1865 and has here since made his home, endeared to his fellow citizens by reason of a pleasing per- sonality, while the importance of his professional and public serv- ice has given him high rank at the bar and in connection with state and national interests.
ORLANDO MCKENZIE.
Orlando Mckenzie is well known by reason of his active legis- lative experience and also by reason of his business enterprise, which places him with the substantial citizens of Foxboro. He has long been engaged in blacksmithing and at the same time he is carrying on an automobile business, handling the Oldsmobile cars. He was born in Nova Scotia, April 23, 1868, a son of Eben and Rebecca (McDonald) Mckenzie, who were natives of Scotland. The father was a farmer by occupation and in early life crossed the Atlantic to the new world, settling in Massachusetts. He afterward removed to Nova Scotia, where he engaged in farming for twenty years. He
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