USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Pelham > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 39
USA > Massachusetts > Hampshire County > Prescott > History of Pelham, Mass. : from 1738 to 1898, including the early history of Prescott > Part 39
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
among the Matabele. The other party, consisting of Messrs. Grout, Champion, and Adams, reached Port Natal (Durban) Dec. 20, 1835, and after visiting the Zulu chief Dingaan received permission to remain as missionaries among his people. Two years later the mission was broken up and Messrs. Grout and Champion came to the United States in 1838. But with undaunted courage Mr. Grout returned to Natal in 1840, remaining for thirty years in the Zulu Mission, till, in 1870, at the age of sixty-seven, he retired from the work. Of the twelve persons who thus commenced work among the Zulus only one is now living, Mrs. Venable, residing in Kansas, at the age of eighty-one. Of the men, the last to be called from earth was Rev. Aldin Grout, who died at Springfield, Mass., Feb. 12, 1894 having resided there since he returned to the United States in 1870.
In the beautiful cemetery at Springfield, Mass., there may now be seen a plain marble shaft, with an appropriate inscription, over the grave of Rev. Aldin Grout. A most interesting fact connected with this monument is that it was erected by the gifts of Zulus in South Africa with whom Mr. Grout lived and labored for thirty-six years. It is a custom among the Zulus, when a friend leaves them not to return, to present him with what is called "grave money," to be used in procuring a suitable burial. When Mr. and Mrs. Grout returned from Natal in 1870 such a gift was made him by the Zulus of Umvoti. This sum was sufficient to meet the funeral expenses of Mr. Grout and also to erect this comely monument at Springfield.
The family of Joel and Aseneth Grout consisted of nine children : Martin born May 30, 1792 ; settled at Grout's Corner, now Millers Falls. Rufus born March 13, 1794 ; married Clarissa Hall.
Aseneth born -; married Whipple Cook.
Orpha born - -; married Mr. Moon of Westfield.
Orra born Oct. 17, 1800 ; married Malinda Randall.
Aldin born Sept. 2, 1803 ; married Ist, Miss Hannah Davis; 2d, Miss Char- lotte Bailey.
Austin born Nov. 26, 1805 ; married Susan Hall.
Josiah W. born July 24, 1809 ; married Harriett Peck.
Annis born March 4, 1813; married Samuel Robbins.
Albert Brown Robinson, M. D., is the son of Abial Robinson and Mary Ann Packard Robinson and was born in Pelham, Mass., April 12, 1835. At the age of twelve years his parents moved to Ware and he entered the high school there, but pursued his acade- mic studies at Monson, Mass., and was graduated at the University
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of Buffalo, N. Y., medical department, in the year 1857. He prac- ticed in Amherst, Mass., a few months and then settled in Holden, Mass., where he married in 1859 the daughter of the late Cyrus Chenery of New York. Her great-grandfather was Dr. Isaac Chenery, who was a surgeon in the Revolutionary war, and whose great-grandfather was Major Logan of revolutionary fame. In August, 1862, he was commissioned assistant surgeon of the 10th Regiment Mass. Volunteers (Col. Briggs) and in May following he was commissioned full surgeon of the same regiment. After the expiration of the three years' term of the regiment's enlistment, June 1864, he, with the regiment, was mustered out of the United States service after being in every battle of the army of the Potomac, from Gen. McClellan on the Peninsula to Gen. Grant at Petersburg, Va. The next month he was commissioned surgeon of the 42nd Regi- ment to serve 100 days at the defences of Washington, D. C., and was mustered out the following November. In April 1865 he set- tled in Boston where he has been in the active practice of his profes- sion since. In the autumn of 1865 he was appointed professor of surgery in the New England Female Medical College of Boston. In 1858 he was an admitted member of the Mass. Medical society and in 1865 a member of the Norfolk District Medical society. In 1866 a comrade and surgeon of Post 26, Grand Army of the Repub- lic. In 1867, was made a mason of Washington Lodge F. & A. M. During his residence in Boston he has been medical examiner for various insurance companies and beneficiary associations, and is at present a member of many literary and secret societies.
William Smith Otis, the inventor of the steam shovel, or the Amer- ican steam excavator (as styled in the patent), was the son of Isaac Otis and Tryphina Smith Otis, and was born in Pelham Mass., Sep- tember 20, 1813. He came of good old Revolutionary stock ; both of his grandfathers having been soldiers in our Revolutionary army ; his maternal grandfather having resided and died in Pelham.
At the time of his invention he was residing in Philadelphia, Pa., engaged in railroad construction, and he patented it about 1836. The first machines were built by Eastwick & Harrison (the firm that under the style of Harrison, Wynans & Eastwick, went to Russia, where they constructed all of the locomotives and rolling stock for the St. Petersburg & Moscow R. R., a road over four hundred miles
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
long, and where they accumulated large fortunes). The Russian government bought two of the excavators (built by E. & H. in Phila- delphia), which were used in the construction of this road.
OTIS PATENT STEAM EXCAVATOR.
The first steam excavator was used by Mr. Otis on a contract on the B. & O. R. R. somewhere in Maryland, and the second near Springfield, Mass., on the Boston & Albany R. R. in 1837,-'38,-'39. A machine was sent with an agent to England about this time, but the English contractors refused to use it, though since the expiration of the patent they have constructed and used large numbers, about twenty having been employed on the excavations of the Liverpool & Manchester canal. One was sold to the Peruvian government, which they used on one of their Guano islands, in excavating and loading into cars the fertilizer deposited by the birds. The French and Germans have also built and used many of them, in fact, they are used the world over where ever any heavy excavations are to be made.
Mr. Otis was the first person to hang a shovel on a revolving crane, and was the progenitor of a large class of dredges used in excavating hard material.
At the time of his invention, engines and boilers were large and clumsy, entirely unsuited for the excavator, and Mr. Otis designed an engine and boiler of the style in use at this day ; the only improve- ment made since his death in steam excavators has been in enlarging and strengthening them. The most of our prominent railroads own
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one or more of them, using them in their gravel pits, and they are employed on some of the Lake Superior iron mines in digging the ore.
William S. Otis, while engaged in constructing a portion of the Boston & Providence R. R. near Canton, Mass., married on June 23, 1835, Miss Elizabeth Everett, daughter of Leonard Everett, a mer- chant of that place. They had two daughters and one son, the latter died in infancy, and one of the daughters at an early age; the oldest, Helen E., married John D. Dunbar, of Canton, Mass., April 4, 1855. They are both deceased, leaving several sons, one of whom is an employee of the Pennsylvania R. R. at Altoona, Pa., and the others are doing well. Mr. Otis died in Westfield, Mass, November 13, 1839, aged 26 years, one month, and 23 days.
Isaac Otis was the fourth of that name, and the seventh generation in descent from the first settler who came from England in 1635.
William Smith Otis was the oldest of eleven children. His mother being the daughter of Capt. Oliver Smith of Pelham, but she was born in Walpole.
John Otis, the first of that name in this country, settled near Otis Hill in Hingham Mass., and was the son of Richard Otis of County Somerset, England. John Otis, first, had a son John second, who had four sons, viz : John, Stephen, Joseph, and Job. From John many noted men have descended, among them James Otis the "patriot of the Revolution," and Harrison Gray Otis, first Mayor of Boston, and a United States Senator.
Capt. Isaac Abercrombie, youngest son of Rev. Robert Aber- crombie, was born in Pelham, Mass., Sept. 30, 1759. When a lad he went to Brookline and lived with Mr. William Hyslop, a wealthy Englishman and friend of Rev. Robert. In his early manhood he returned to Pelham. He married Martha McCulloch, daughter of Robert and Sarah (Cowan) McCulloch, June 26, 1790. They lived in the old parsonage for many years, and at the parsonage their nine children were born. He was a man of fine presence, erect and stately in figure. He filled many offices of honor and trust in the town and county before his removal from town. He represented the town in the General Court in 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1804, 1806, 1809 and 1819 ; was on the board of selectmen often and was com- missioned a Justice of the Peace for Hampshire and Hampden coun- ties, and a captain in the militia. He removed from his native town
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to New Salem first, and then to Greenfield and Deerfield where he died Dec. 4, 1847.
Isaac Abercrombie was a much respected and influential citizen, and noted for his strength of mind. His service in the Revolution was while living at Brookline, consequently his name does not appear among the list from Pelham. David, Samuel, John and James, sons of Rev. Robert, also served in the Revolutionary war. David, the eldest son, was in the battles of Bunker Hill, Stillwater, Saratoga and Ticonderoga ; was taken prisoner by the British, sent to England and never returned. It is claimed that few, if any, able- bodied men remained in Pelham during the war-the old men, and the women doing what work was done on the farms.
Otis Abercrombie, M. D., son of Capt. Isaac Abercrombie, was born in Pelham, June 25, 1802. He married Dorothy Lovina, daughter of Major Daniel and Mary (Sawyer) .Putnam of Lunen- burg, Mass., June 16, 1835. He was graduated at Williams College in 1823 and began the study of medicine at the Medical School in Richmond, Va., and finished his studies at New Haven, Conn., receiving his degree in 1827. Later in that year he was licensed to practice medicine by the Mass. Medical Society and located in Ash- burnham, Mass. He removed to Fitchburg in 1829 and was asso- ciated with Dr. Jonas A. Marshall. After nine years of successful practice in Fitchburg, failing health obliged him to retire from active practice and he removed to Lunenburg. At the last named town he was postmaster for several years, served on the board of selectmen and took active interest in public affairs. Dr. Abercrombie died at Lunenburg, Jan. 24, 1851.
Ira Abercrombie, son of Isaac, was born in Pelham, Jan. 28, 1805. He was educated in the schools of the town and at New Salem Academy ; taught school when a young man ; went to Houlton, Me., as a clerk in a store ; returned to Massachusetts and engaged in trade at Deerfield (Cheapside) with his brother Isaac. They were also engaged in boating on the Connecticut river. Mr. Abercrombie became prominent in town, served as selectman in Deerfield for six years and often moderator of the town meetings; represented the town in the General Court in 1850 and 1861 ; served as trustee of the Smith Charities; was state director of the Troy & Boston R. R .; was one of the incorporators of the Franklin County bank, then a
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director. In 1863, was chosen president, a position which he held until his death July 14, 1870. He was also trustee of the Greenfield Savings bank. Ira and Isaac were never married, a sister being their housekeeper for many years.
Asiel Abercrombie, son of Isaac, was born in Pelham, Oct. 21, 1807. He was educated in the schools of the town and at New Salem Academy ; worked on the farm in Pelham; removed to New Salem where he was a merchant; moved to Deerfield (Cheapside) where he was engaged in the hotel business until the railroads were opened. He then turned his attention to farming. Mr. Abercrom- bie was not in public office very much. He was a director in the Franklin County National bank at Greenfield, also a trustee of the Greenfield Savings bank, and a trustee of the Deerfield Academy until his death, March 10, 1874. He married Miss Elizabeth B. Fuller of Deerfield.
Isaac Abercrombie, son of Isaac, was born in Pelham, July 20, 1793. His education was obtained at the common schools, and at New Salem Academy. He taught school in the neighboring towns in winter. For one term in Ludlow his pay was a " Straight rifle " which he treasured all his life, and bequeathed it to a nephew by will. His father was interested in a tract of land conveyed by Robert Brooks, governor of Virginia, in Lewis and Randolph counties, by patent dated Richmond, Nov 7, 1796.
The grantees met at South Hadley, June 3, 1810, and "drew by lot " their several portions. Isaac was sent to Virginia in 1814, with others, to locate the shares of land. The trip was made on horseback, he having been furnished with a certificate of good moral character by Daniel Stebbins, Notary Public, of Northampton. Two trips to Virginia were made on business connected with these lands.
Mr. Abercrombie was a deputy sheriff in Hampshire county for several years before removing to Greenfield, Mass., where he held the position of deputy sheriff and jailer under Epaphras Hoyt, Sheriff in 1828. He was also interested, with others, in running a line of mail stages between Boston, Troy and Albany. Selling out his interest in the stage route he engaged in trade with his brother Ira, at Deerfield, (Cheapside.) The firm did an extensive wholesale and retail business, extending over a large portion of the county and into Vermont. They ran a line of boats on the Connecticut river,
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
between Cheapside and Hartford, loading with country produce on the down trip, and general merchandise on the return. The open- ing of the Connecticut River R. R. in 1846 destroyed their trade and boating business. He then turned his attention to the care of his property and to farming. He held offices in the town of Deerfield ; was director in the Greenfield bank, and trustee of the Smith Charities. In business circles he was known as a man of strict integrity. He died at Deerfield, Sept. 10, 1872.
Thomas Buffum was born in Pelham in August, 1846, the son of Thomas Buffum. He spent his boyhood there and obtained a com- mon school education. When he was eighteen years old he went to
ZAW.
THOMAS BUFFUM.
Easthampton and began work under Edmund H. Sawyer in the Nashawannuck mills. He began at the bottom and worked up, learning the entire business. In a few years he was placed in charge of the finishing department and this position he held for 26 years.
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He possessed a large amount of executive ability, and he was a man who was not satisfied with allowing things to drift, but rather took delight in driving things. He was one of that class of men who achieve results when they set out on a given line. Mr. Buffum was of jovial nature, and loved congenial companionship and sociability. He went about much, and was known in every town up and down the valley. He was a shrewd business man, and was always a steady worker. He was generous and kind-hearted, and the people who worked under him in Easthampton were his friends. This was shown by the presents that were given him and the kind words that were spoken by the employes at the time he severed his connection with the company. He possessed a power for observation, and with his travels accumulated a vast amount of knowledge, especially of men and human nature. His hobby was a good driving horse, and " Handsome Tom," as he was familiarly known about the county, was never known to drive a slow horse. He resigned his position at the Nashawannuck mills in 1895, and since then he had been con- nected with Dibble & Warner in the same business. He was with this firm at the time he was taken with his last sickness. He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary E., daughter of Martin Graves of Northampton. They were married in 1870. His second wife was Miss Sarah Chase of Easthampton. Mr. Buffum removed to Northampton in the autumn of 1896 where he died on the 18th of February, 1897.
James M. Cowan, born in Pelham, August 5, 1827, was the son of John Cowan and Susan Hildreth. He attended the public schools in Pelham, and afterward learned the machinist's trade. He went to Chicopee Falls in 1852, where he ran a grist mill for two years. He returned to Pelham at the end of that time and began the manufac- ture of bobbins and spools for cotton and woolen factories. The firm name was James M. Cowan & Co., his partner being L. M. Hills of Amherst, at that time the president of the First National bank in that town. The business was a profitable one, especially during the war, and the firm built up a large business. He sold his interest in the mill in 1867 to his partner and removed to Springfield, where he entered the employ of the Boston & Albany railroad as foreman of the car shops. He gave up this position and went in business for himself about 1875, being engaged in the retail meat and coal trade.
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
He afterward gave up the meat business and had been engaged in handling coal until the time of his illness. His yards are along the Boston & Albany railroad tracks. He formerly occupied the entire ground on Lyman street where the station now stands. He had a branch yard on the New England road opened in 1893, where he received his Lehigh coal. Mr. Cowan was successful in business, confining his energies to the one line. It was while living in his native town that the war of the Rebellion broke out, and as a mem- ber of the board of selectmen, he was able to render the town valua- ble service in filling the quota of men called for from time to time during the war. He also rendered much assistance in support of the Congregational church at the center of the town, and it was largely through the efforts of Mr. Cowan that the bell, now hanging in the steeple of the church, was secured and placed in position.
Mr. Cowan was a member of the North church, Springfield but sometimes attended the Park church, near his home. He was much interested in church and missionary enterprises and until recent years had been an active worker in the railroad Young Men's Christian Association. His first wife was Miss Almariah Bartlett of Enfield, Mass., and he was married to her in May, 1851 ; she died Aug. 5, 1862. His second wife, who was Miss Ellen Mitchell of Palmer, survives him with two children, Miss Mary E. Cowan, and J. Edward Cowan, who was associated in business with his father. Mr. Cowan died Feb. 14, 1897.
The Cowan family was a well known and much respected one in the town from its first settlement. George and Ephraim Cowan were among those who drew Home lots in 1739. George drew lot 21 and Ephraim lot 42, the latter being about a mile east of the Methodist church. The name of Cowan appears on the town records for many years, and probably until Mr. James M. Cowan removed from town in 1867. George Cowan the first settler was from Concord, in the county of Middlesex, while Ephraim was from Worcester where most of the settlers of the town came from. Whether these two men were brothers cannot be determined by the records, but they may have been. In 1757 there was a Samuel Cowan, also a James Cowan; they were both married that year. Sept. 8, 1781, James Cowan was married to Mary Dunbar of Winchendon. On a list of voters for the year 1799 the names of James and George Cowan appear.
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Dr. Morton Monroe Eaton was the son of Monroe Eaton and Clarissa Boyden, and was born in Pelham, April 21, 1839. He attended the schools of the town, supplemented by several terms in the schools of Amherst and removed to Illinois in 1855 being at that time sixteen years old. In Chicago he studied medicine with Prof. Daniel Brainard, formerly president of the Rush Medical College. Dr. Eaton graduated from this college in 1861. He was then resi- dent physician of the city hospital for two years. He then removed to Peoria where he was made surgeon of that post in the war of the Rebellion. During the Rebellion he made five trips through the South for the Sanitary Commission, under the direction of Gov. Yates of Illinois, distributing sanitary stores and assisting the wounded and needy to get home or to suitable hospitals.
Dr. Eaton was a prolific writer for medical journals, and also wrote and published books. His most noted book was a volume of over 800 pages, profusely illustrated, and had, and is still having an extensive sale. Dr. Eaton was president of the City Homeo- pathic Medical Society of Cincinnati. He was vice-president of the State Society of Illinois ; also a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, and an honorary member of several other state and other societies, including the International Congress of Paris, France. In 1881 he attended the World's Homeopathic convention in London.
Dr. Eaton removed to Cincinnati in 1877 and to Walnut Hills in May, 1886. He practiced medicine as partner with Prof. S. R. Beckwith. He was a hard student and was successful both as prac- tictioner and as a business man, saving a pretty large fortune. Dr. Eaton was twice married. His first wife was Miss Eliza J. Payne of Galesburg, Ill., with whom he lived seventeen years. His second wife was Miss Sutherland of Peoria, Ill. . Dr. Eaton died Oct. 21, 1889, leaving besides his wife, two daughters and a son, who is also a physician, his mother and a step brother, Shelby M. Cullom, who was at one time governor of Illinois. In religion Dr. Eaton was a Congregationalist and attended the Walnut Hills Congregational church. He was also a member of the N. C. Harmony lodge of Masons.
Dr. Francis Lapier Eaton was the son of Monroe Eaton and Clarissa Boyden, and was born in Pelham, March 5, 1843. He attended the schools of his native town in boyhood until his parents
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HISTORY OF PELHAM, MASS.
moved to the West, where his education was completed and he selected medicine as a profession. After completing his course of study he began practice at St. Louis, Mo., but later Dr. Eaton settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, and for twenty years or more was a most zeal- ous and active worker in the interests of his chosen profession, hav- ing been corresponding secretary for some years of the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy, then trustee, and later president of the college. He served with honor during the war of the Rebellion and was an honored member of the Geo. H. Thomas Post G. A. R. of that city. He died in Cincinnati, Jan. 24, 1887, when but 44 years of age.
Lebbeus Gaskell, Esq., was the son of William Gaskell and Phebe Cook, and was born in Pelham in 1809. He attended the schools of the town until he left home to learn the wagon-makers' trade at Woonsocket, R. I. After becoming master of the practical part of the business, young Gaskell decided to go into the business for himself and having saved $300 used it as capital, it being all that he had. His venture proved a success after a while and the money made, was saved and as his savings increased he loaned money to the manufacturers about Woonsocket at good rates of interest. He also engaged in the real estate business and was successful in that also. He became director in one of the banks at Woonsocket and later was chosen president of the institution and served in that capacity for several years. Mr. Gaskell died at Woonsocket, R. I., in 1875. He was twice married, and had two daughters, one of them inheriting nearly all of the large fortune her father accumulated, and married Dr. Bailey, a noted fancy farmer and lecturer upon agricul- tural topics.
The Gaskell family came to Pelham from Cumberland, R. I. Other members of William Gaskell's family were: Orinda, Silas, Lyman, James M., Lucy D., Joanna, Chester, and Philena, ten in all. Chester and Philena, the only living members of this large family, now reside in Amherst.
Dr. E. Ward Cooke, was born in Pelham on the 18th day of May 1851. He was the sixth son of Nathaniel and Bethiah Ward Cooke and grandson of Eseck Cooke, the Quaker farmer of early times. He received his early education in the old Valley district school, and later became a pupil of Minor Gold, a noted teacher of Pelham. Being naturally ingenious and possessed of mechanical ideas, he
DR. E. WARD COOKE,
UNCLE ESECK COOK'S FARM HOUSE.
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early acquired a knowledge of the joiner's trade, at which he worked in this and adjoining towns and later in Providence, R. I. After- wards, he went to South Carolina where he was engaged in the Sea Island cotton trade. It was while there he met and formed the acquaintance and friendship of an eminent physician and surgeon and through his influence, he determined upon a professional career, whereupon he took up a course of reading and study and after two years, returned to his native state and entered the office of Dr. Horace C. Smith of Athol, Mass., as a dental student. Subse- quently he matriculated at the Philadelphia Dental College in Phila- delphia, Pa., and completing his course of study there, he returned to Athol, where he began the practice of dentistry on his own
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