History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 216

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 216

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1868. Freeman Ryder.

1870. Isaac Hathaway.

1871. Stephen Thomas.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

HON. PETER H. PEIRCE.

Hon. Peter H. Peirce was the youngest of the numerous children of Capt. Job Peirce and wife, Elizabeth Rounseville, and born in that part of Middleboro' now Lakeville, March 25, 1788.

Precociousness has usually been considered a bad sign, and that those who have been wise above their early years proved correspondingly weak or wanting at inaturity is undeniably true in very many instances, and perhaps furnishes the rule rather than the excep- tion, and yet, in the greatest, wiscst, and best of men, precociousness has been their bow of promise and harbinger of highest hope.

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

It is proverbially true that the boy is father to the man, and thus in this case the sequel proved, for those remarkable qualities of head and heart that through life signally distinguished Hon. Peter H. Peirce, and made him the man of mark that he was, were so well de- fined as inherent possessions, and the results came forth so spontaneously, that several years before he attained to his majority he had built up for himself and became the master of a permanent, well-conducted, suc- cessful, and very lucrative business in his native town, and which as a merchant caused him to rank among the first in the southern parts of Massachusetts, where he had few equals and certainly no superiors, and the one great mistake of his life now clearly appears to have been that instead of remaining in Middleboro' he had not sought ample scope for the development of his mercantile ability in a much larger, broader, and far more extended field of action.

His political influence at home was unequaled at the time, had never by any other resident of Middle- boro' been attained to before, nor has it been equaled since ; and this he enjoyed for some forty years, during all of which he was more of a patriot than politician, ever ready to practice self-sacrifice for the attainment of a good principle, and never seeking the pomp of power, or desiring the spoils of office.

In dispensing benefits to benevolent and reforma- tory objects he was ever very liberal, but so regulated his charitable bestowments that the right hand might not know the act of the left, ever seemingly thoroughly realizing that

" Whe builds for Ged and not for fame, Will never mark the marble with his name."

He was never an office-seeker, although his power to obtain office was almost unbounded, and hence he held few offices, and thesc were at first in the militia, when ease and pleasure were for the time supplanted by fatigue and danger. He led a company of the coast guard in active service in the last war with Eng- land, and was subsequently promoted to the office of lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Regiment of infantry in Plymouth County Brigade, from which circum- stance was derived the familiar appellation of Col. Peirce, by which he was generally known.

He was several times elected to a seat in the State Senate, where the committee upon which he was ap- pointed to serve shows that his ability was recognized and respected, and in which body he made for him- self an honorable record. His death occurred upon the 27th of January, 1861, leaving a wife and eight children to emulate his virtues and mourn his loss.

ISAAC PRATT.

Isaac Pratt was born March 6, 1776, in North Middleboro', Mass., Titicut Parish. North Middle- boro' and a part of Bridgewater were incorporated into a precinct called Titient in honor of a tribe of Indians who had inhabited that locality.

He was descendant from Phineas Pratt (seventh generation), who came over in 1623, either in the third ship " Ann" or in the "Swallow." He died at Charlestown, April 9, 1680, at the age of eighty-seven years.

Phineas had a son Joseph, and he a Joseph (2d), and he a son Benjamin, and he a Benjamin (2d), and Benjamin (2d) had a son, William, who was the father of Isaac. He was a farmer, and married Mary King, of Raynham. He lived and died in North Middleboro'. He had one daughter and seven sons, viz., Calvin, born in 1774; Isaac, in 1776; Sally, in 1778; Enoch, in 1781 ;1 Greenleaf, in 1783; Benja- min, in 1785; William, in 1788; Zebulon K., in 1791.

" Whether descendants from Ryston Hall or of Cabra Castle, the Pratts have been of consideration in different parts of England and Ireland," says Burke, " from a remote period, some of knightly degree and baronets."2 It may be added that they have distin- guished themselves in the highest places in all the professions, not only in Great Britain but in the United States. Benjamin Pratt was born in Boston in 1709, and died in 1763. He was a graduate of Har- vard University (1737); he represented Boston in the Legislature in 1757-59, and subsequently became chief justice of New York. Charles Pratt (Lord Camden) was made Chief Justice and Lord Chan- cellor of England, and who, during the American Revolution, made himself illustrious for all time. The comprehensive heraldic motto of his lordship- Judicium, parium aut lex terræ-(" the judgment of our peers or the law of the land") would not be an in- appropriate motto of all who bear the name of Pratt.

Isaac Pratt married Naomi Keith, a most estimable lady, May 19, 1804. She was the daughter of Jere- miah Keith, of Bridgewater, a descendant from Rev. James Keith, who came to Massachusetts from Scot- land in the year 1662, and was the first settled min-

1 Eneeh was a graduate of Brown University in 1803, and became a clergyman. Ile was settlod at Wost Barnstable, Mass., in 1807, and resigned his position in 1835. He died in 1860. Ho was the author of tho " Comprehensive History, Eeclesiastieal and Civil, of Eastham, Wellfleet, and Orleans" (1 vol. Svo), said to be a faithful record of their origin and pregress.

2 Burke's " Landed Gentry."

Firms Turkey Chord Pruitt

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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBORO'.

ister in West Bridgewater. Their children were three subject of this sketch returned to his favorite and well- daughters and five sons. viz., Jane Gurney. born cultivated farm in North Middleboro', where he died Dec. 3, 1864. March 16, 1805, and was married to George L. Oakes ; Enoch. Sept. 10. 1808; Susannah Keith, Jan. 15. 1811, and was married to Joshua B. Tobey, of Wareham. October. 1835; Isaac. Jr .. June 27. 1814; Jeremiah Keith, born Jan. 23. 1817, and died Feb. 26. 1823; David Gurney, born Dec. 19, 1819, and died Nov. 23, 1848; Nathan F. C., born July 28, 1922. and died Dec. 22. 1877 ; Mary Field, born Oct. 18. 1827, and died Jan. 1. 1829.

Mr. Pratt was educated at the common school, which at his period was limited to two or three months of the year. Most of his life was spent upon the farm. in connection with a saw-mill and a country store. The more active part of his life. however, was given to the manufacture of nails, which he made a branch of his business. In 1818, or before, his nephew, Jared Pratt, was made a partner, and the business was conducted under the firm of I. & J. Pratt.

They purchased the Swedish and Russia iron which was reduced to nail-rods, and these were placed in the hands of resident farmers, when not otherwise employed, to be hammered into nails. This was made quite a profitable industry.

About the year 1816, Jesse Reed invented, or per- feeted, a machine that would cut and head nails from plates at one operation. After many expensive fail- ures of attempted nail-machines, this proved a success. Mitchell, in his " History of Bridgewater," says, '. The first nails manufactured by machinery in the United States were made here; probably the first nail completely cut and headed by machinery at one opera- tion in the world was made in East Bridgewater by the late Samuel Rogers." 1

In 1821 or 1822, Jonathan Crane and Charles Wilbur were made partners, and the firm was altered to I. & J. Pratt & Co. They purchased the right to use the Reed nail-machine, gave up their store and business in North Middleboro', and removed to Ware- ham, Mass. Here they erected a rolling-mill and nail factory, now known as the " Parker Mills." They were among the first to undertake this business on a large scale.

In 1829 they obtained an act of incorporation under the name of " The Warcham Iron Company," with a capital of $100,000. Jared Pratt was made treasurer, though the business of the company was conducted under the direction of the firm.

In 1834 the copartnership was dissolved, and the

It is difficult to describe the peculiar and sterling elements of Mr. Pratt's character. He was emi- nently a practical man. In his transactions and inter- course with others he had no occasion for troublesome disguises or indirect methods. His mind and hand were as open as day for action, whether in business or charity. He was quick to speak, and with a ready good-natured wit was always prepared to redeem in practice what he professed in words. Of him, it may be said more than of any other man, that he was the founder of the industrial prosperity of Wareham. At the time of his death a truthful obituary was published in the Boston Evening Traveller, which we quote as due to his memory :

"Our readers in Plymouth County will read with regret the announcement of the decease of Isaac Pratt, of North Middle- boro', who died at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. . . . He was industrious, frugal, and unostentatious ; benev- olent and hospitable; a patron of educational interests, a kind neighbor, a devout Christian, and a publie-spirited citizen. For more than seventy years he was an exemplary member of the Congregational Church. Although he adhered to the tenets of his faith with steadfastness characteristic of his Puritan an- eestry, he was neither bigoted, dogmatical, nor ascetic. He was conservative, but liberal in his views. He will be remembered as a fine type of a class now rapidly passing away,-the sturdy, honest, liberty-loving farmers of the carly days of the Republie."

ENOCH PRATT.

Enoch Pratt was born in North Middleboro', Mass., Sept. 10, 1808. He is the son of Isaac Pratt and Naomi Keith, whose record and that of his an- cestors is given in the sketch of his respected father contained in this volume.

He graduated at the Bridgewater Academy at the age of fifteen. He was a bright, energetic boy, char- acterized by undoubting hopes and firm resolves, and inspired by an honest and fearless ambition. He was manly in his youth. Conscious of his capacity to exert his faculties in useful labor, and feeling a lively responsibility as to the use of time, he seemed to have an instinctive dread of idleness, the moment he was prepared for industry. Even two weeks before he closed his term at the academy he wrote a second let- ter to an intimate friend of his family in Boston,2 to obtain for him, as soon as possible, a good place in a wholesale dry-goods store. He said, "I suspect that I am old enough to do considerable business. . The preceptor thinks that I am. . . . My

1 " History of the early Settlement of Bridgewater," by Nabum Mitchell, p. 59.

2 The late postmaster at Boston, Nahum Capen, who preserved his letters.

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

school will be out in a fortnight, and I do not want to stay at home long after it is out."

A position was soon secured for him in a first-class house in Boston, where he remained till he was twenty-one years of age. In this place he had the benefits of the old-fashioned training in business pe- euliar to Boston. He had the influence of the examu- ples of good men to aid him in developing those re- markable endowments of mind which have distin- guished him from boyhood to manhood and through life. His unexceptionable habits and tireless application to business ; his quick perception of what was right and what was wrong, and his undeviating integrity ; the simplicity of his methods, and his unbounded confidence in the principles of common sense and in the results of legitimate industry, gave him an early reputation for sound judgment of far greater value than the possession of money as a capital, with its dangerous tendency to mislead in the choice of doubt- ful projects of speculation. The slow and sure methods of acquisition afford the most profitable information in respect to the fundamental laws of trade and the means of success. No young man more thoroughly mastered these laws and observed them than the sub. ject of this notice.

In 1831, Mr. Pratt removed to Baltimore and established himself as a commission merchant. He founded the wholesale iron-houses of Pratt & Keith and Enoch Pratt & Brother, which now consists of himself and Henry Janes. No firms have been more successful in business, though much of the time of Mr. Pratt has been given to industrial enterprises of a public nature and to financial institutions. He has been director and president of the National Farmers' and Planters' Bank for forty-five years, director and vice-president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, twenty-seven years a director of the Savings-Bank of Baltimore, and of numerous other institutions.

He had no hesitation in taking a large block of the stock of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company in its early days, by which action he identified himself with a line of railway which in its equipments and accommodations to the public is unsurpassed,-an achievement largely attributable to his wise foresight and good judgment.

With an expanding heart beyond the selfish calls of the mere ambition for gain, he has ever manifested a deep interest in the cause of education, religion, reform, and charity, and in public improvements. He has expended much time and money in support- ing such institutions, and always with a cheerful spirit.

He is now president of the House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children at Cheltenham, Prince George County, Md., and of the Maryland School for the Deaf and Dumb, at Frederick, which was started by his energy and means. But for his liberality and perseverance the institution at Chelten- ham would not have been established. He saw with deep concern that there were numerous colored children swarming in the streets of Baltimore, home- less and friendless, and abandoned to grow up in idleness and vice. He donated seven hundred and thirty acres of his farm property as a site, and with the aid of a few kindred spirits the institution was established, and he has lived to see a thousand or more of poor colored children made happy and pre- pared to be useful members of society.

Mr. Pratt has taken a lively interest in the Mary- land Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts. The costly bell and clock in the tower of the institute building were his gift. As the treasurer of the Peabody Institute, he was highly complimented by the late eminent banker who founded it, as one of the ablest financiers he had ever known. The ease and success with which he conducted the great trust of millions without loss, and with a skill to secure all possible legitimate gains, affords a singular contrast to modern examples of administrative weakness.

In 1877 he was unanimously elected by the City Council one of the Finance Commissioners of Balti- more, a post of honor and great responsibility. This was truly a high compliment, for the reason that he was politically opposed to the dominant party, and was the only one ever invited by a Democratic coun- cil to accept the position. His services as commis- sioner proved to be invaluable in shaping the finan- cial policy of the municipality, but the pressure of his private affairs soon compelled him to withdraw from the board.

Although Mr. Pratt is an acute observer of men and events, and takes an intelligent interest in polities and legislation, particularly when the general welfare is involved, he has manifested no desire for office. He has beeu approached to be a candidate for Congress, for Governor of the State, and mayor of the city, and for other offices, but he has declined all positions that give mere distinctions of honor, and with but few op- portunities for usefulness. Absolutely he has no taste for notoriety. He is ever prompt to be useful, but he is opposed to the mere display of pride. It was with difficulty that his consent was obtained for the insertion of his name in this volumc.

In regard to Mr. Pratt's religious views, it may be said that he belongs to the progressive school. He

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HISTORY OF MIDDLEBORO'.

is an eclectic, believing in the rule of God, and find- ing good in all things. His scale of duty is not measured by time, aud in his acts of to-day he relig- iously provides for the future. He is an active mem- ber of the Unitarian Society of Baltimore, but he looks for a man's religion in his deeds. He may be spoken of, in the language of Tennyson, as one

" Whose faith has centre everywhere,

Nor cares to fix itself to form."

But the reader will be amazed when told that, after such recitals of Mr. Pratt's acts of munificence, the noblest of all are yet to be stated.

Three years ago he gave notice to the city govern- ment of Baltimore of his purpose to establish a free circulating library, to be called the Enoch Pratt Free Library of Baltimore City, on certain conditions of co-operation on the part of the city, which were promptly and officially accepted. He proposed to expend a million of dollars. He proceeded immedi- ately to erect suitable buildings for the library and its four branches, and they were completed and conveyed to the city July, 1883. These buildings were planned and erected under his personal supervision at a cost of $300,000. In addition to these buildings, he gave his check on his bank, July 1, 1883, for $833,333.33 to the city for a permanent six per cent. endowment of $50.000, payable quarterly forever, making the grand total of $1,133,333.33.

It would be exceedingly interesting to describe the library buildings, to show their solid foundations and fire-proof superstructures, their superior conveniences, and the elaborate and beautiful decorations of their interiors ; but the limits of this article do not permit. The papers of Baltimore have been eloquent upon the subject, and its citizens have manifested their delight in the prospect of enjoying for themselves and their children the privileges of such an institu- tion.

But in favoring his adopted city Mr. Pratt did not forget his native town in Massachusetts. In 1867 he endowed an academy in North Middleboro', and made it free to children within a certain distance, in the sum of thirty thousand dollars. In 1858, when the Con- gregational Church of Titicut was burned, he aided them to rebuild and presented them with a clock and bell. Other noble acts might be enumerated, but if we were to make a full record of Mr. Pratt, the ina- terials would fill a volume.

Of his happy domestic relations it may be proper to add that he was married Aug. 1, 1839, to a most interesting lady, Maria Louisa Hyde, whose paternal ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Massa- chusetts, while, on the mother's side, she is descended

from a German family, who located in Baltimore more than a hundred and fifty years ago. They are child- less. The circle of his home, whether large or small, is made as happy as the means of wealth can command and the presence of a noble and cheerful mind can inspire.

Mr. Pratt is in the full possession of mental and physical vigor, and is enjoying, without display or ostentatiou, the rewards of an unspotted career and a life of unclouded prosperity. No man is more unas- suming in his manners, or more modest in speaking of what he has done, or of his personal merits. It cannot be seen that good fortune adds to his vanity or good deeds to his pride, or that occasional losses annoy him. He dislikes flattery and unnecessary ceremony, and in his intercourse with his neighbors and friends he has a kind and ready greeting for all classes, uttered with an unchangeable dignity that is the natural language of high motives and undisguised sincerity.

ISAAC PRATT, JR.

Isaac Pratt, Jr., brother of Enoch, was born in North Middleboro', June 27, 1814. His father was Isaac Pratt, son of William, and his mother, Naomi Keith, daughter of Jeremiah Keith, of Bridgewater. His ancestors are given in the sketch of his worthy father, contained in this volume. He lived with his parents, and was educated at the common school, and at Bridgewater Academy. When sixteen years of age he entered the counting-room of I. & J. Pratt & Co., Wareham, his father being the senior partner. They were extensive nail manufacturers. At the age of eighteen he was made the chief clerk of the concern. He kept the books, and all the business of the counting-room was placed under his direction. The business of the firm at this time was not less than five hundred thousand dollars per annum.

He remained with this firm till 1834, when it was dissolved. After adjusting its closing affairs, he ac- cepted a clerkship in the house of Warren Murdock, Commercial Street, Boston.

At this time he was twenty years of age. He remained with Mr. Murdock about a year.

In 1835 he was offered a clerkship in the house of Benjamin L. Thompson, merchant on Long Wharf, Boston, with the understanding that in due time he would be made a partner. Mr. Thompson had been connected with I. & J. Pratt & Co., and was well acquainted with the character and high merits of Mr. Pratt as a young man of much promise, and he was made a partner in 1836.

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

The firm consisted of Benjamin L. Thompson, George L. Oakes, and Isaac Pratt, Jr., under the title of Thompson, Oakes & Co. Their chief business was the manufacturing and selling nails, made from Swedish iron, and in buying and selling hops.

In 1841 Mr. Thompson retired, and the business was continued under the firm of Oakes & Pratt until February, 1843. At this time an entire change had taken place in the manufacture of nails. Instead of Swedish bar-iron, pig-iron was used. By cutting the nails with the grain of the iron, a good, tough nail was produced equal for most work to that of the Swedish iron, and at a much less eost. This im- provement was adopted by the Weymouth Iron Company, and Mr. Pratt was made agent to take charge of their store on Milk Street, Boston, which position he has held for forty years, with great ad- vantage to the company.

In January, 1866, he was elected a director in the Atlantie National Bank, Boston, and when his finan- eial skill was seen he was made its president in 1869. Under his direction the bank has not only been able to deelare good and uniform dividends, but to accumulate a ereditable surplus. For more than twenty-five years he has been a director in the National Bank of Ware- ham, Mass., and during the years 1872 and 1873 he was president of that bank, being president of two banks at the same time.

At the present time, 1884, Mr. Pratt is president of the Bridgewater Iron Company, the Weymouth Iron Company, Charles River Embankment Company, and treasurer of the East Boston Company.

In 1875 he was elected representative to the State Legislature from the Brighton and Newton distriet. He was very properly placed on the Joint Standing Committee on Claims, and his associates had ample evidence in his examples of prompt attention to his official duties, and of his keen eapaeity to serutinize the equity of the numerous demands made upon the State treasury. He had the courage to say No when necessary, and to insist upon impartial justice to all elaimants when made evident.

Mr. Pratt has voted the ticket of the Republican party, although he has not had much time to give to it as a member. He has often been solicited to be a candidate for office, but such offers have been deelined.

1848 ; Edmund Thompson, born July 5, 1852 ; and Marland Langdon, born Dec. 3, 1857.

Mr. Pratt and his entire family are in good health and in the enjoyment of all those blessings which fol- low good examples and a life of successful industry. He is a man of few words and of great modesty. He was born with a natural capacity for business. This was made evident in his early yonth. He was a sedate boy, and preferred trade to play when he had choice of opportunities, though always ready to enjoy the wit and pleasantries of others. As a man and merchant he has distinguished himself as a careful observer of men and things, and discovered a sound judgment in all the enterprises he has undertaken and with gratifying results. He is quiek to solve a business problem, and no one has ever had reason to complain of him for duplicity or want of candor. He possesses the same elements of character that dis- tinguished his venerable father and his respected brother, Enoch,-three as honest and successful men as ever were born on the soil of the old Bay State.

Their record does great honor to the land of the Pilgrims,-the county of Plymouth.

We do not say self-made men, for this term, so common among writers, in our humble opinion, is an arrogant one. Whoever has the strength and genius to rise above the eireumstanees of life, to acquire knowledge however opposed by difficulties, to elevate his eharaeter above that of his associates, to advance his own station beyond his inherited rank, and to seeure for himself the commanding position of af- fluence, integrity, and eminent usefulness, is a fav- ored child of his Maker, and is a chosen instrument of his benefieenee. The genius that is within raises him above the level of life. He sees, he hears, he feels, he thinks, and knows, and he aets. He is diligent in the use of his talents, and, like the faith- ful steward, is ever ready to be called to his account.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 216

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1706

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706