History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 89

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 89

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Atherton married, Sept. 16, 1841, Tempie H., daughter of Col. Joseph and Mary (Rich) Holbrook, of Boston. Their children were George Edward, Charles Francis, and Sarah Ann, who married George P. Sewal, of Boston. The children of this marriage were Atherton and Mabel A. Mrs. Tempie Ather- ton died Feb. 24, 1849. Mr. Atherton married, July 3, 1856, Susan B., daughter of Capt. Richard and Jerusha (Rich) Baker. Their children were Helen L. (married Edward H. Hawes, of Boston) and Susan M. (married W. Morton Robinson, of Lynn). Mrs. Susan Atherton died May 18, 1858. Mr. Ath- erton married, Oct. 6, 1869, Mrs. Susan M. Holton, daughter of Joseph Bassett and Margaret Richardson. Mr. Atherton passed some years of his married life in Charlestown. He purchased the beautiful place in Dorchester where he now resides in May, 1856, and has made his home there ever since. Mr. Atherton is a director in the New England Bank, Prescott In- surance Company, Massachusetts Loan and Trust Company, president of the Dorchester Gas-Light Com- pany, and connected with various other corporations. He is a man of great executive ability, clear intellect, sound practical sense, and force of character. By his enterprise, sagacity, and integrity he won the confi- dence and esteem of the leading business men of Boston, and has a high rank in financial circles. Whig and Republican in political belief; he took hold of politics with the same enthusiasm and energy which characterized him in business life, and has always taken an active part in the " primaries." He could have won political honors, and worn them grace-

fully and with distinction, but, aside from represent- ing Dorchester in the State Legislatures of 1867, 1870, and 1877, he has not accepted political position. In private life Mr. Atherton is marked for his emi- nently social qualities, his courtesy to all, his warm and strong friendships, kindness, and liberality to the unfortunate and to charitable objects. He is Unitarian in religious belief.

LEONARD HODGES.

Leonard Hodges, for so many years one of Stough- ton's leading manufacturers, was born in Taunton, Mass., July 8, 1794. His father, Samuel Hodges, was a man of solidity and good repute, and for many years an " innkeeper" (a position of consequence in those days) in Taunton and Easton. He married Lucinda Austin, of Dighton, and had several children, among whom were Samuel, Lucinda, and Leonard. Samuel was one of the incorporators of the Gay Cot- ton Manufacturing Company, established in Stough- ton in 1813, on the site where afterward stood Leonard Hodges' Satinet Mills. In the war of 1812 he rendered distinguished services as an officer in the army, and in 1819 was appointed United States con- sul at the Cape Verde Islands, where he died about 1825, aged thirty-four. Lucinda married Rev. Cal- vin Park, a Congregational clergyman of reputation, who was at that time pastor of the church in Stough- ton.

Leonard Hodges lived in Taunton till 1820, when he removed to Stoughton, and established himself as a working jeweler and merchant of jewelry. About 1822 he began the manufacture of satinets in a small ·way, the weaving being done by hand. This busi- ness, conducted with care, diligence, and unswerving industry, grew steadily in importance, and after a few years, with new and improved machinery, he began to make hosiery-yarn, employing at first about twenty- five hands. Under his shrewd management the busi- ness assumed large proportions, and in 1851, after accumulating a large property, he retired from active labor, letting his mills to his nephew, Samuel W. Hodges, who, with Calvin Tuck, founded the firm of Tuck & Hodges. After five years Mr. Tuck retired, and in 1857, Mr. L. Hodges sold the mill to Charles H. French, of Canton, thus closing his connection with manufacturing.

Mr. Hodges married, Jan. 12, 1848, Jane, daughter of Elijah and Ruth (Tisdale) Atherton, of Stoughton. Their children are Anna A., born Aug. 20, 1855, married Claude Wilson, M.D., of Waterville, N. Y .;

419

STOUGHTON.

and William L., born July 13, 1858, inherited the old homestead in Stoughton, and married May 10, 1883, Lillie Gray, daughter of David M. and Lydia A. Simmonds, of Boston.

Mr. Hodges was a diligent, hard-working man, not given to boasting nor display ; but by patient industry was truly the architect of his own fortune, attending closely to business and caring not for public honor or office. He was a careful counselor in all practical matters ; for many years a director of the Neponset Bank of Canton, and possessed great strength of char- acter and steadfastness of purpose. While quiet and reserved in his intercourse with others, he had a large circle of attached friends, and was considered one of Stoughton's representative men, and when he died, March 1, 1871, in the fullness of nearly seventy-seven years, the community lost a valuable member, and business circles an honest man.

ASAHEL SOUTHWORTHI.

Asahel Southworth-Constant (1), Nathaniel (2), Edward (3), Constant (4), Jedediah (5), Con- sider (6), Asahel (7)-was born in Stoughton, July 17, 1814 ; he was the youngest child of his parents, and received the education imparted at the common schools of those days. One of the features of his at- tending winter schools was to start with a fire-brand in the morning and go to the school-house, a distance of a mile, and with this brand kindle the fire. He, like all his father's family, was early taught the value and necessity of labor. When he was twenty years old (1835) he, with his brother Jedediah, hired the mill of his father, which in 1837 they bought ; built a new dam on the site of the present one. The same year they added fourteen feet to the length of the factory and constructed a water-wheel. Their busi- ness increased until their water-supply was unable to furnish them with sufficient power. So in August, 1847, they moved to the mill in Canton, since occu- pied by the Net and Twine Company, where they manufactured for two years. Mr. Jedediah South- worth suddenly dying, Asahel, who while doing busi- ness in Canton had suffered extreme ill health from neuralgia, sold all the machinery of the business ex- cept that for making cords, with which he returned to Stoughton. In the spring of 1858 a set of woolen machinery was put into the factory by Mr. South- worth and B. L. Morrison, they commencing business under the name of Morrison & Southworth. When this partnership was formed, it was a condition that when Consider Southworth, Asahel's son, should be-

come of age, and understand the business, he should take his father's place. This partnership continued until 1861. Feb. 1, 1861, from some unknown cause, the dam gave way, leaving a hole forty feet wide and fourteen feet deep, and shortly after this firm was dis- solved. In the spring of 1861 the dam was rebuilt, a new and larger water-wheel put in, and fifteen feet added to the width of the mill, in which business was resumed by Asahel and Consider Southworth under the firm-name of A. Southworth & Son. The pro- duct of the new mill was about seventy-five pounds of yarn per day. In 1866 a brick stack was built, a boiler and engine put in, and the factory enlarged. The building is now two stories in height, with French roof, and thirty-nine by fifty-four feet on the ground ; the basement and floors affording about eight thou- sand five hundred feet of floor surface. In 1868, the old machinery was sold, and new of the most approved kind substituted. In 1867, printed or chinchilla yarns came into use, and the new machinery that is necessary to make this kind of goods was added. In 1872, when chinchilla yarn was most demanded, they ! manufactured over one hundred and thirty thousand pounds. In 1875, Mr. Asahel Southworth retired from the business. He was thrice married, first, to Harriot, daughter of Ebenezer and Mary (Wild) Kinsley, of Easton ; she was born Nov. 27, 1813; died Oct. 9, 1853. Their children were Consider, Mary H. (died young), Mary E. (Mrs. J. D. Taber, of Quincy), and Harriot E. (Mrs. W. R. Blake, of Stoughton). Mr. Southworth married, second, Mrs. Sarah D. Fellows, née Rowe, of Rockport; they had one child, Elmer Kinsley ; third, to Mrs. Lydia Swift. Mr. Southworth devoted himself to business, refusing office, only accepting those of school committee and road surveyor. He was a successful and prosperous , man. He was energetic, of nervous temperament, active, and cautious, social, yet unassuming, and fond of home. His moral qualities placed him in accord with the highest society, and he was universally es- teemed. With the exception of his two years' resi- dence in Canton, he lived all his life on the home- stead of his father, in Stoughton. He was a member of the Universalist Society and of the Independent Order of Odd- Fellows. He was the first to build an ice-house and start the ice business in Stoughton. His death occurred Sept. 26, 1880.

CONSIDER SOUTHWORTH (eighth generation), son of Asahel and Harriet (Kinsley) Southworth, born in Stoughton, March 7, 1840. Like many of New Eng- land's successful men, he had but common-school ad- vantages of education, yet this was supplemented by a thorough practical knowledge of his father's manufac-

420

HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

turing. He married, March 7, 1861, Anne J., daugh- a man of positive character and convictions, yet un- obtrusive and unostentatious. He seeks no public duties, but when called to perform them is faithful to the command,-" Whatsoever thy hand findeth to ter of Pelatiah and Myra (Wales) Stevens, of Stough- | ton. Their surviving children are Harvey K. (born Jan. 16, 1867) and Martin O. (born Nov. 14, 1869). In addition to the firm of A. Southworth & Son, | do, do it with thy might." His manner of life is in 1865, Mr. Southworth formed a partnership with quiet and simple, and he much prefers the society of ' his home and family to parties or clubs, and enters with reluctance public gatherings. Enjoying rural life, he takes pleasure in cultivation of the soil and horticulture, and has a fine orchard of five hundred trees. Perhaps no man in Stoughton has been more earnestly devoted to its welfare than he, and surely none holds a higher place in the regards of its people. George A. Cooper to manufacture bonnet wire, and since 1870 has supplied the inhabitants of Stoughton with ice. From the retirement of his father from the business of A. Southworth & Son, in 1875, Mr. Southworth continued it until Jan. 1, 1880, when his brother, E. Kinsley Southworth, became his partner, and is now associated with him. They built soon after a " picker"-house, thirty by thirty feet, and put in a small steam-engine. They could then make about three hundred and fifty pounds of yarn per day, of which one hundred was printed. In COL. CONSIDER SOUTHWORTH (1). the spring of 1882 a brick addition was made to the The romantic history of Lady Alice Southworth, who married Governor William Bradford for her second husband in the infant Plymouth Colony, has been told over and over again during the last two hundred and fifty years, and of equally proud and noble descent as any of the English peerage is the Southworth family. Its transatlantic genealogy is thus given in Winsor's " History of Duxbury :" "It was procured by Mr. H. B. Somerby, from the Herald's college, London, for Nathan Southworth, Esq., of Boston. It is not known whether the first named are to be understood as in regular lines of descent, or collateral branches of the family. [It is evidently direct line of descent.] Sir Gilbert Southworth, of Southworth Hall, Lancas- ter, Knt., married Elizabeth, daughter of Nicholas Dayes, of Salmsbury, in Lancashire. Sir John South- worth, of Southworth Hall, married Jane, daughter of John Booth, of Barton, Esq. Richard South- worth, of Salmsbury, Esq., married Elizabeth, daugh- ter of Edward Molineaux, Esq., of Segtou, in Lan- cashire. Sir Christopher Southworth, of Southworth Hall, married Isabel, daughter of John Dutton, of County Chester. Sir John Southworth, of Salms- bury, Knt., married Ellen, daughter of Richard Lang- ton, of Newton, Walton Lane : children,-Sir Thomas, Christian, and Richard Southworth." mill, an eighty-horse steam-boiler put in, and also an additional engine. A disastrous flood in the fall of 1882 carried away a portion of the dam and injured the foundation of the mill. Owing to the general stagnation of the woolen interest, no improvements have since been made except to repair the damage of the flood. The specialties they manufacture are such yarns as are used for Cardigan jackets and by fancy- goods knitters. In about three months after marriage Mr. and Mrs. Southworth commenced housekeeping in part of the homestead dwelling of his grandfather, Col. Consider Southworth, where they resided until they removed, in 1878, to the pleasant residence now occupied by them. In politics Mr. Southworth is a temperance Republican. He has been elected three years successively selectman and chairman of the board, and during his administration the duties of the office have been extremely responsible and ardu- ous. The elaborate and beautiful town hall has re- ceived largely of his time and attention during its construction, and every bill connected therewith was examined and audited by him. As an evidence of the estimation in which he is held by the citizens of Stoughton, and his business ability, we give the lan- guage of one of its substantial farmers: "The town hall would have cost ten thousand dollars more had Richard Southworth, of London, merchant, mar- ried Jane, daughter of Edward Lloyd, of Shropshire : children,-Henry, of Somersetshire, married Eliza- beth, daughter of John Pillsant, of London, merchant; and Thomas, who married Jane, daughter of Nicholas Mynne, of Norfolk. Constant Southworth (if Lou- berly's table is understood correctly), who married Alice Carpenter, afterwards Mrs. Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth Colony, New England, was son of Thomas and Jane (Mynne) Southworth. Their it not been for Mr. Southworth." He has only been identified with town affairs during the last ten years, previously devoting himself to his business, in which he has been fairly successful. He is Universalist in his belief, and was parish treasurer for several years, until increasing cares caused him to decline serving longer. He joined the Sons of Temperance when fourteen years of age, and has never violated his ob- ligations or broken the pledge he then took. He is

Amara Tenthworth

421

STOUGHTON.

children were Thomas M., Elizabeth Rayner, and Con- stant, who married Elizabeth Collier. According to the " Pilgrim Memorials," Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, stands on "a part of the extensive estate of Mr. Thomas Southworth, in 1668, and is probably comprised within the four acres given him by his mother, Mrs. Alice Bradford, relict of Gov. Bradford." Thomas South- worth, " a magistrate and good benefactor to both church and commonwealth," died in 1669.

According to old colonial records, " on the 26th day of March, 1670, Mistress Alice Bradford, senior, changed this life for a better, having attained to four- score years of age, or thereabouts. She was a godly matron, and much loved while she lived, and lamented, though aged, when she died, and was honorably in- terred, on the 29th of the month aforesaid, at New Plimouth." Alice came over in the ship " Anne," her sons Thomas and Constant some time later, in 1628.

Constant Southworth had by his wife, Elizabeth Collier, Edward, Nathaniel, Mercy (married S. Free- man), Alice (married Col. Benjamin Clark), Mary (married David Alden), Elizabeth (married William Fobes, of Little Compton), Priscilla, and William. Nathaniel, born at Plymouth, 1648, married Desire, daughter of Edward Gray, in 1672 ; had Constant, born 1674; Mary, born 1676; Ichabod, born 1678 ; Elizabeth, married James Sproat; Nathaniel, born 1684; and Edward, who settled in Middleborough and married Bridget Bosworth, of Hull, in 1711, and died in 1749, leaving four sons, Constant, Edward, Lemuel, and Benjamin, who, as stated by Judge Michell, all settled in North Bridgewater. Constant married Martha, daughter of Joseph Keith, in 1734; to them were born Betsey, in 1735 ; Nathaniel, in 1737; Ezekiel, 1739; Martha and Mary, 1741; Desire, 1742 ; Jedediah, 1745; Constant, 1747 ; Sarah, 1749, and Isabel, 1751. Jedediah, born in North Bridgewater, married Mary, daughter of Capt. Consider Atherton (see biography of James Ather- ton). She was born in Stoughton, where they set- tled and had children,-Jedediah, Consider, Polly, Betsey, and Constant.

Consider Southworth was known as colonel, and married Mary Hixon, Jan. 24, 1799, and had nine children,-Lyman, born June 6, 1800 ; Jarvis, born Aug. 20, 1801; Lemuel D., born Sept. 7, 1802; Consider A., born May 14, 1805 ; Amasa ; Mira, born Nov. 3, 1810, married Alva Morrison, of Braintree ; Jedediah, born April 27, 1812; Asahel, Paul D., born May 27, 1820. Col. Consider Southworth was born April 8, 1775, probably in Stoughton. He was one of the primitive shoe manufacturers of that pe-

riod, and, it is said, bought the right to peg shoes (then a new invention) in the town of Stoughton. He was prominently connected with the interests of Stoughton. As colonel of the militia, he was called into active service with his regiment in the war of 1812, but was not called into action. He held a high position in the Masonic fraternity ; was a member of the First Parish Church ; was well developed phys- ically, of strong positive character, lived in the west- ern part of Stoughton, and was especially fond of good horses, always owning one or two fine specimens. He was a valuable citizen, generous and hospitable in all the relations of life, and made a strong impress on the local history of his day. He was a life-long Dem- ocrat, a true patriot, and while he deprecated the agi- tation that led to the Rebellion, had it not been for his fourscore years he would have been found at the front battling for the Union. He had no sympathy for traitors. Up to the time of the free-soil agita- tion his sons were in political accord with him, when Asahel became an active worker in that cause. He died June 6, 1863, much lamented. His wife was born July 22, 1777, and died Dec. 6, 1856. Col. Southworth commenced in 1823 a cotton-thread fac- tory, which was finished in 1824, and was a wooden building twenty-four by thirty-eight feet, with eight feet posts and a stone basement story. His son, Consider A., who had learned the business in Paw- tucket, R. I., took charge of the manufacturing depart- ment for some time, being succeeded by his brother Amasa. Work was begun on this mill July 13, 1824, and forty-five pounds of thread were spun by August 1st. In August ninety-eight and a half pounds were spun ; in September one hundred and ten pounds. The total product to Jan. 1, 1825, was eight hundred and fifty-three pounds. In 1825 two thousand four hundred and fifty-three and a half pounds were pro- duced. About 1826 Consider A. Southworth built a cord-twister, and he began to make cotton cord of various colors, used at that time to finish the tops of boots and shoes. These colored cords were made in the Southworth family until the advent of the sewing- machine changed the style of finishing, and the man- ufacturing of cording was given up in 1857, as there was no demand for the goods. "The Southworths made the first cotton cord ever manufactured in Mas- sachusetts by water-power."

Amasa Southworth (2) was born March 4, 1807, in Stoughton; had a meagre, common-school edu- cation ; was early inured to labor, and for most of his life worked diligently with both head and hands. His youth was passed assisting his father in farming and in the mill. On becoming of age, in 1828, with

422

HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

his brother, Consider A., he formed the manufacturing 1844, married Abbie M., daughter of Charles and Lydia (Keene) Dorman, of Rockport, Mass., Dec. 25, 1866. Their children are Edwin W., born Sept. 22, 1867; Abbie D., born Feb. 10, 1877; and Chester Dean, born March 5, 1882. Amasa E. re- sides in East Somerville, and is a member of the firm of Hyde & Southworth, wholesale grocers, Boston, Mass. Mr. and Mrs. Amasa Southworth commenced housekeeping in a small house near the present mill of A. Southworth & Co., and, after several removals, they finally occupied, in 1836, the house which was Mr. Southworth's home till death, and now the resi- dence of his widow. This house was separated by a who then became of age. Mr. Southworth married, | driveway from one built exactly like it by his brother, Consider A., which has been destroyed by fire. copartnership of C. A. & A. Southworth. Their mill was built on the site now occupied (1883) by the mill of Consider Southworth & Brother. About 1829 they added a mill on the site of the present mill of A. Southworth & Co., West Stoughton. In 1857, Amasa purchased the interest of his brother in this mill, and took as partners his son, Massena B., and son-in-law, Edwin S. Henry, forming the firm of A. Southworth & Co., under which name business is still conducted, and manufactures Sea Island and fancy cot- ton, harness twine, line twine, threads, etc. In 1859, Mr. Southworth sold his interest to his son, William S., March 4, 1829, Abigail, daughter of Asa and Polly (Kent) Sherman, of Marshfield. From Marcia A. Amasa Southworth was liberal in all things of a social nature, fond of home and domestic circle, of good judgment, strong character, firm principle, suc- cessful in business ; in politics a Democrat, and in re- ligion a Universalist. The life of a private business man, whose promises are kept and whose credit is good, is apt to be uneventful, as far as the purposes of a biographical sketch is concerned. Such a life is so because good credit accompanies or follows correct this describes the old homestead of her birth. Her | business habits, and such habits mean the smooth running of affairs, when each day, though it brings its work and obligations, leaves its obligations complied Thomas' " Memorials of Marshfield," we copy this : " William Sherman had a garden place at Duxbury, 1637, and lands towards Green Harbor, 1640. He early settled on the north side of the highlands, called on early records, White's Hill, near Peregrine White's. He had John (born 1646), William, and perhaps others." From its location and the family name, this was written of Mrs. Southworth's ancestors, as father, Asa Sherman, born April 12, 1773, was a farmer of Marshfield, and owned and commanded a coasting vessel. He was a militia captain, an active ' with and its labor performed. Such lives are the and energetic man, well acquainted with many people, foundation and superstructure of society, and such a life was Amasa Southworth's. The famous and eventful lives may well be considered the architectural embellishments, but they must have the solid struc- ture to form themselves upon. Life is not a dream is the assertion of more than one experience, and the lives of great events are rendered possible only by just such lives as the one in question. Mrs. South- worth, his companion of many years, with unusual activity of mind and body, surrounded by her chil- dren, is " only waiting" for the coming of the " twi- light" to join her beloved husband. and held in high repute by his townsmen. He mar- ried Polly Kent, and had Polly, born Sept. 15, 1799; Asa, born Feb. 28, 1801; Wealthy, born Feb. 22, 1803 ; Abigail, born Aug. 15, 1806; Alice W., born Feb. 24, 1810; and William, born May 25, 1813. Social, honest, patriotic, and upright, he died April 26, 1870, aged ninety-seven. His wife, born Dec. 28, 1775, died Jan. 10, 1878, aged one hundred and two years and thirteen days. She was a lady of the old school, of sweet disposition and courteous man- ners, and much beloved. The children of Amasa and Abigail Southworth are A. Malvina, born Dec. 10, 1830, married E. S. Henry, has three living children ; Walter E., born July 16, 1864; Alice S., | born June 29, 1867 ; and Ella S., born Jan. 14, 1871. HON. ELISHA C. MONK. Massena B., born Jan. 7, 1834, married Ellen E., Hon. Elisha Capen Monk, son of George R. and Sarah (Capen) Monk, was born in Stoughton, Mass., April 25, 1828. From Hon. Ellis Ames, of Canton, the noted genealogist, we gather the following infor- mation : "The ancestor who came to this country was probably Christopher Monk. In past generations daughter of Albert G. and Hannah Vose (Gay ) Eaton, | March 12, 1866. Their children are Grace E., born April 2, 1871; Fred. W., born Sept. 25, 1874; and Inez M., born Feb. 26, 1880. William I., born June 9, 1839, married Martha E., daughter of Orin and | Polly (Hayden) Belcher, Jan. 6, 1861. Their chil- ' there have been several Christopher Monks in Boston, dren are Edith G., born Sept. 26, 1869, and William ' and several of the same name in Stoughton, one of B., born Nov. 9, 1871. Amasa E., born March 9, whom was born Jan. 14, 1733, another in 1757. At

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 89

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534