USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Vol. III > Part 44
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Mr. Burnham married, in 1911, Marjorie Newton, who was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and they have two children: Jane Newton, born December 4, 1915; and John Newton, born December 6, 1918.
ADIN W. CUSTANCE-A prominent factor in the life of this community, including commercial, civic, and social aspects is Adin W. Custance, president and man- ager of The Consolidated Ice Company of Clinton. Mr. Custance ยท came originally from Nova Scotia, where he was born October 31, 1866, but was brought as a child to the United States by his parents, who lived for a time in Weymouth, Massachusetts, where he acquired his education. Mr. Custance is a son of William J. and Margaret (McKay) Custance, both of whom were natives of Nova Scotia, and lived there until after their marriage. The elder Mr. Custance followed the occu- pation of carriage maker throughout his life, his death occurring in 1903, while his wife survived him three years, she having died in 1906.
When school days were over and it came time for Mr. Custance to choose a trade, he elected to follow in his father's footsteps and learned carriage building, which he continued to follow for sixteen years. At the end of
that period he decided to realize his ambition to go into business for himself, and in 1900 became manager of the Lancaster Ice Company; in 1902 the Lancaster Ice Company and The Consolidated Ice Company con- solidated, Mr. Custance still retaining the managership, and in 1910 he was made president of The Consoli- dated Ice Company.
For nearly a quarter of a century now he has been the executive head of this enterprise, serving the com- munity with one of the necessities of modern life, and contributing to the commercial prosperity of the town of Clinton. While devoting the greater part of his time to the conduct of his business Mr. Custance has also made opportunity to perform his duties as a public-spirited citizen, and has been chairman of the Town Committee for nine years (1918), and for eight years has been chief of the Clinton Fire Department, which position he still holds. In his political affiliation he is an adherent of the Republican party and policies. He maintains mem- bership in several of the well-known clubs and organ- izations of the community, including the Prescott Club, of which he is president, 1923; the Chamber of Com- merce, and Masonic bodies. In the latter he has been especially prominent, and is a member of Trinity Lodge, the York Rite and the Shriners organization. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias. When a younger man, from 1888 to 1891, Mr. Custance gained military experience by serving with Company K, 5th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, with the rank of private.
In 1890 Lilla M. Dinsmore, of Clinton, became the wife of Adin W. Custance, and they have three children, whose names are: Adin M., Marion S., and Kenneth D. The family are members of the Unitarian church of Clinton.
WILLIAM NELSON WOOD, for more than forty years has been engaged in business as a pharmacist in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, and there are few business men of that place who are better known or more highly esteemed than is he.
The Wood family is a very old one in New England, tracing its ancestry to William Nelson Wood, who settled in Concord, Massachusetts, and died there in 1671. His will was dated September 15, 1670, when his age was given as about eighty-eight years. He left a son, Michael Wood, from whom have descended nu- merous families of the name.
(I.) One of the descendants of these early settlers was Elijah Wood, who was born about 1740, settled in the town of Gardner, Massachusetts, about 1770. He mar- ried Isabella and they were the parents of the following children: Jonathan, of further mention: Isa- bella, Elijah R., Susanna, Eunice, Dolly, and Timothy.
(II.) Jonathan Wood, son of Elijah and Isabella Wood, was born about 1760 and died in Gardner in 1819. He married (first) Anna ----; (second) Lois -
and (third) Lucy Children of the first marriage were: Jonathan (2), of further mention; and Catherine. Children of the second marriage were : Benjamin, Wind- sor D., Oliver, and Eunice.
(III.) Jonathan (2) Wood, son of Jonathan and Anna Wood, was born in Gardner, Massachusetts, October 25, 1781, and was educated in the public schools of that
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town. He worked on the farm with his father until he was twenty-one years of age, and then engaged in farm- ing for himself, which occupation he continued to follow in Gardner throughout his active life. He married (first) Betsey Bancroft, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Case) Bancroft, of Gardner, Massachusetts, and they were the parents of the following children: Polly, Betsey, Almond, and Smyrna. Jonathan (2) Wood married (second) Sarah Perley, daughter of Allen and Judith (Case) Perley, of Gardner, and they were the parents of three children: Sarah Case, Nelson Perley, of further mention; and Alden B. Jonathan (2) Wood married (third) Olive Haskell Morse, daughter of Oliver and Betsey (Davis) Morse.
(IV.) Nelson Perley Wood, son of Jonathan (2) and Sarah (Perley) Wood, was born in Gardner, Massachu- setts, January 26, 1821, and was "bound out" when he was about seven years of age, to Deacon S. W. Bancroft. When his apprenticeship was completed he went to Paxton, where he learned the trade of the treer in the boot and shoe factory of Bigelow & Company. In 1848 he returned to Gardner and entered the employ of Col- lester, Rugg & Company, in whose finishing department he remained for a period of twenty-five years. After engaging in business for himself for a time in Gardner, he engaged in farming and finally bought land at the corner of Center and Lynde Streets, in Gardner, where he lived until 1888. He then sold his place to Henry Heywood and built a residence at No. 64 Lincoln Street, which he occupied during the last three years of his life. His death occurred in 1890. Politically he gave his sup- port to the principles and the candidates of the Repub- lican party, and his religious affiliation was with the Universalist church. He was active in several temper- ance movements, and was deeply interested in the work of the Good Templars, which organization he served as treasurer. He married, May 1, 1850, Mercy W. Nichols, who was born August 23, 1828, and died in 1899, daugh- ter of John and Mercy (Woodward) Nichols, and they were the parents of two sons: William Nelson, of fur- ther mention; and James Smyrna, who married Lillian E. Perham, and has two children: Marion and Nelson.
(V.) William Nelson Wood, son of Nelson Perley and Mercy W. (Nichols) Wood, was born in Gardner, Massachusetts, July 21, 1854, and received his educa- tion in the public schools of Gardner, including the high school. When his school training was completed, he found his first employment in the chair factory of Hey- wood Brothers, with whom he remained until 1872. He then made a change and entered the employ of Jonathan Alger as clerk in his clothing store in Gardner, later being placed in charge of the business for a time. Two years later he severed that connection, and from 1872 to 1880, was employed in several different lines of busi- ness. In 1880, however, he began the study of pharmacy under the direction of Dr. James Emmerson, of Gard- ner, and four years later he opened a drug store of his own in the town of Ashburnham, Worcester County, Massachusetts. Since that time he has been continu- ously and successfully engaged in that business, and his pharmacy has come to be one of the best known and the most liberally patronized in the community. For seven years his pharmacy was located on Central Street, but by the end of that time the increase of business
made a change advisable and he removed to his present location on Central Street. Mr. Wood has always taken an active interest in local public affairs, and in the quiet ways of the loyal citizen has contributed much to the development of the place. In 1899 he was made cashier of the Ashburnham Bank, but after efficiently filling that position for a period of five years he re- signed because the demands of his pharmaceutical busi- ness required his full time and interest. He gives his support to the Republican party, and for thirteen years he served as Tax Collector of his district. He is a member of Naukeag Lodge, No. 196, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Ashburnham, of which he is a Past Noble Grand; and was also a member of the Ashburn- ham Grange, No. 202, Patrons of Husbandry, which body he served for a number of years as a member of its board of trustees. He is a member of the National Association of Druggists, and his religious interest is with the Congregational church of Ashburnham, of which he is an attendant. Mr. Wood has a' host of friends in the community, many of whom have known him for more than a quarter of a century and hold him in the highest esteem.
William Nelson Wood married (first), April 30, 1884, Nellie F. Woodbury, daughter of Samuel D. and Jerusha (Vose) Woodbury, of Winchendon, Massachusetts. She died and Mr. Wood married (second), September I, 1897, Susan Ellen Heald, who was born December 3, 1871, daughter of George and Lucia A. (Williams) Heald, of Ashburnham. To the second marriage three children were born: Donald Heald, who was born August 28, 1898, graduated from Rensselaer Polytech- nic Institute, of Troy, New York, with the degree of Mechanical Engineer, and is now an instructor in that institution; Guy Carlton, who was born April 26, 1900, is a graduate of Colgate University; and Irene Eliza- beth, who was born November 6, 1902.
CHARLES HARDY BAILEY, B. S., M. D .- One of the foremost figures in the professional world of Northern Worcester County, Massachusetts, is Dr. Charles H. Bailey, of Gardner, whose record of forty- two years of uninterrupted practice in this community reflects honor upon himself and bears close relation to the well-being of the people. Dr. Bailey comes of early Colonial stock of Massachusetts, for a number of gen- erations resident in the State of New Hampshire, where Dr. Bailey was born. Amos Bailey migrated from Pel- ham, Massachusetts, to West Swansea, New Hampshire, as early as the year 1789, and the family remained in that town. Dr. Bailey has in his home some early fur- niture taken from Massachusetts to New Hampshire at that time Jonathan Bailey, Dr. Bailey's grandfather, was born at West Swansea, and was active throughout his lifetime as a farmer and mechanic. Clark Bailey, son of Jonathan Bailey, was also born in West Swansea, and followed the same general line of activity in which his father had been engaged. He married Caroline C. Davis, who was born in the town of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, and both died in West Swansea. Their son Charles Hardy, is the subject of this review.
Charles Hardy Bailey was born at West Swansea, New Hampshire, September 21, 1856. He received his early education in the public schools of his birthplace,
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then attended the Winchester (New Hampshire) High School, and thereafter entered New Hampshire State College, at that time still a department of Dartmouth College. His choice of the medical profession was early made, and during the greater part of the years 1877-78 he studied under the preceptorship of Dr. A. H. Taft, of Winchester. He entered Dartmouth Medical College in the fall of 1878, and during that winter (1878-9) took the lecture course at Maine Medical College, at Bruns- wick, Maine, then was graduated from Dartmouth in the class of 1880, receiving his degree of Doctor of Med- icine. In April of the same year Dr. Bailey took up the practice of medicine in Gardner and has been continu- ously active since along general lines, early winning the confidence and esteem of the people and bearing a con- structive part in the community progress. He has served as a member of the medical staff of the Henry Heywood Memorial Hospital from the time of its founding, in 1907, until the present, and is now also a member of the Medical Advisory Board. He is affiliated with the Massachusetts State Medical Society, the Worcester North Medical Society and the Gardner Medical So- ciety. For twenty years he served as a member of the Gardner Board of Health, and has also been very active in local educational advance, serving for fifteen years on the School Board. He is a member of the Gardner Boat Club.
Dr. Bailey married, on August 14, 1884, Clare E. Morse, of Winchester, New Hampshire, and they are the parents of three children: I. Louise M., a graduate of Smith College, class of 1910, who was active for ten years as librarian of the State Library at Hartford, Connecticut, and is now librarian at Trinity College. 2. Katharine J., a graduate of the same institution, class of 1912, now the wife of Professor H. D. Dozier, who holds the chair of economics at Dartmouth College; they have three children : Douglass Bailey, born Febru- ary 1, 1919; Sidney Franklin, born January 19, 1921; and Mary Louise, born September 12, 1922. Both Louise M. and Katharine J. graduated with honors and are members of the Phi Beta Kappa fraternity. 3 Charles Roger, graduated from Dartmouth College, class of 1921, with the degree of Bachelor of Science, also a cum laude graduate, now a student in electrical engineering in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a member of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity.
JAMES C. SMITH-Having served his community of Leominster, Massachusetts, for a number of years in connection with its public schools, Mr. Smith is now engaged in the local post office as assistant postmaster, and is known to a large number of his fellow citizens. His father was Charles H. Smith, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, a veteran of the Civil War, having served with the 32d Massachusetts Infantry, and was discharged with the rank of captain. He was a member of John H. Chipman Post, No. 57, Grand Army of the Republic, of Beverly, Massachusetts, and engaged in the shoe industry until his death in 1902. The mother, Sarah E. (Rogers) Smith, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, and died in 1916
James C. Smith was born at Beverly, Massachusetts, March II, 1867. When his education in the public
schools of Everett, Massachusetts, was completed he was employed in the grocery business for nine years, and leaving that, accepted a position with the schools in Leominster as truant officer and military instructor. He continued to fulfill the duties of this former office for thirteen years, but decided to leave in 1907 and be- come a clerk in Leominster Post Office, retaining his duties, however, as military instructor until 1915. In 1919 he was appointed assistant postmaster, which posi- tion he still retains. ,
Fraternally he is a member of the Masons, the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks, Royal Arcanum, Masonic Club and is also member of the Spanish-Amer- ican War Veterans. He served in Company B, 6th Massachusetts Infantry, taking an active part in the Porto Rican campaign as first lieutenant. He served with the above company from 1898 to 1909, being dis- charged that year with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. During the World War he organized a company in the Massachusetts State Guard, called Company F, 19th Regiment, of which he was captain for one year, then resigned. He attends the Baptist church in Leominster.
Mr. Smith married (first), in 1890, Hattie L. McIntire, a native of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, who died in 1916. He married (second), in 1919, Alma L. Ellis, born in Winchendon, and she died in 1922. His children are : I. Leone E., now engaged in community service work at Pittsford, Vermont; he married Elinor Homer, and they have two children: James C. (2), and David K. 2. Evelyn L., wife of Harold G. Barrett, of Leominster; they have one child, Margaret H.
GEORGE L. MINOTT-The unusual record of twenty years' consecutive service as postmaster of his native place has given to George L. Minott, of Gardner, a' noteworthy position in the public service. During the last Democratic administration the office was filled by an executive of that party, but again in 1922 Mr. Minott was called to the service of the people and is now still active as postmaster of Gardner. One of the pro- gressive and forward-looking men of the chair city, Mr. Minott is esteemed by all who know him and his life history, both in the industries and in the public service, forms an interesting record. He is a son of John H. and Eliza A. (Kendall) Minott, his father a native of Westminster, Massachusetts, and his mother of Gard- ner, where they were married in 1854. John H. Minott was identified with the chair industry in Gardner throughout his active lifetime, and was for many years a foreman in the plant of S. Bent & Brothers, of Gard- ner. He died in 1896, at the age of sixty-nine years, while the mother survived him for twenty years, passing away in 1916, at the age of seventy-nine years.
George L. Minott was born at Gardner, Massachu- setts, April 15, 1866. Educated in the public schools of his native place, he took up the responsibilities of life in 1884, entering the employ of a' leading chair manufac- turing concern of Gardner, Conant & Bush. He was connected with their plant until the dissolution of the firm, about six years later, and during that period he had charge of the wood framing department of the plant. In 1890 Mr. Minott became identified with the Blount Manufacturing Company of Gardner, producers of door
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checks, and he was active as foreman of the shipping and finishing room of the plant, also as timekeeper. Later he served for about seven months in the wood framing department of the Whitney Reed Chair Company of Leominster, Massachusetts. For several years there- after Mr. Minott was engaged in the life insurance busi- ness as a representative of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, with which he continued until February 1, 1898. Meanwhile, on November 26, 1897, he received his first appointment as postmaster of West Gardner, and upon taking charge of the office on Feb- ruary I, 1898, he closed up the activities of his insur- ance business and devoted his entire attention to the duties of postmaster, and in May, 1899, was also ap- pointed postmaster of Gardner. On January 1, 1900, he was given charge of the central post office, which was the result of the merging of the three post offices of the town of Gardner, heretofore conducted as West Gard- ner, South Gardner, and Gardner proper. Immediately thereafter local delivery by carrier was established in Gardner by Mr. Minott, and from that time forward the responsibilities of the position were important and exacting. Mr. Minott showed remarkable ability in the early years, during which the centralization of the post office business was becoming established, and his work was so sincerely appreciated that he was retained in office continuously until the year 1917, when he failed of reappointment by the Democratic administration and the appointment of a Democratic postmaster took place. Irrespective of political affiliations or opinions, the gen- eral feeling in Gardner is that Mr. Minott served the people in this responsible office the best that ever has been done, and with the return of the Republican party to power in the national capital, Mr. Minott was reap- pointed to the post office, taking up his duties as post- master once more on April 1, 1922. During his period of leisure Mr. Minott was very active as secretary of the Gardner Committee on Public Safety, his work being principally along food production lines, and it included the establishment of a public market and a canning station, also the oversight of hundreds of war gardens. Mr. Minott was a leader in this movement for the two years of its principle activity, and during this time he organized a food production police force, which did excellent service in the protection of gardens and other activities of a public nature. On April 6, 1919, Mr. Minott was appointed Deputy Income Tax Assesor for the State of Massachusetts in connection with the Worcester office, and fulfilled the duties of his position for one year, after which he was promoted to superin- tendent of the Fitchburg office. He presided over that office until his reappointment to the postmastership of Gardner, when he resigned to resume his duties in this connection, in which he is still engaged. Mr. Minott is secretary and treasurer of the Gardner Cooperative Association and is fraternally prominent, being a member of Hope Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; of William Ellison Lodge, No. 185, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he was Noble Grand in 1923; and also holds membership in the Gardner Encampment, No. 61, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is also a member of the Sanctorium, No. 151, Tajak Orientals, of Worcester; and Sabin Rebekah Lodge, No. 77. He was president of the Ridgely Club of
Gardner for three years, 1904, 1905, and 1906, and still holds membership in that organization.
George L. Minott married, in 1892, Jessie E. Gourley, then of Gardner, but a native of Milford, New Hamp- shire. Mrs. Minott is affiliated with the Daughters of Rebekah of Gardner, Massachusetts. Mr. and Mrs. Minott are the parents of four children : Gladys E., who married Ronald P. Burrage, a construction engineer of Cleveland, Ohio, and has one child, Ronald P., Jr., Henry W., a special writer for the Worcester "Tele- gram"; George L., Jr., a freshman in Gardner High School; and Winona D., a student in Gardner Grammar School.
WILFORD P. SHUFFLETON-With long exper- ience in the manufacture of chairs and goods of this general character Mr. Shuffleton has for the past decade been active as a member of the industrial organization known as the Gem Crib & Cradle Company of Gardner, Massachusetts, in which he holds a leading position as vice-president and production manager. Mr. Shuffleton is a member of a Vermont family for many years prom- inent in Arlington, and is a son of Henry Shuffleton, who was a manufacturer of Arlington for many years, and a' man highly esteemed among his associates and contemporaries. The mother, Mary (Burgor) Shuffle- ton, was born in Rouses Point, New York, and they were married about 1869. Both are now deceased.
Wilford P. Shuffleton was born in Arlington, Ver- mont, February 5, 1871. His education was received in the town schools of Arlington, which he attended up to the age of seventeen years. At that time he went to South Ashburnham, Massachusetts, where he secured employment in the chair manufacturing plant of Wilbur F. Whitney, remaining for two years. Then going to Syracuse, New York, he remained for one year, and in 1891 came to Gardner, which he has made his per- manent home. Here he at once became connected with the plant of Heywood Brothers & Wakefield Company, chair manufacturers of this place. Two years later he severed his connections with this concern to enter the employ of the Nichols & Stone Company, manufacturers of the same general line of goods. Mr. Shuffleton was identified with this concern for a period of twenty-two years, rising in their employ to the position of room foreman. In 1913 he resigned from this position to give his attention to the affairs of the Gem Crib & Cradle Company, in which he became associated with Walter L. Beaman and Carl H. Hedstrom, who had founded this interest one year prior to that date. With his long practical experience in the same general field of manu- facture Mr. Shuffleton was placed at the head of produc- tion as shop foreman, and his judgment and energy have been largely responsible for the remarkable growth of the concern and its present eminence in the industrial world of Gardner. On the incorporation of the com- pany in 1918, Mr. Shuffleton was made vice-president of the concern, still continuing as factory manager. This organization occupies about 44,000 square feet of floor space and employs about one hundred and forty people. Mr. Shuffleton is also interested in various other industrial concerns in this section, being a director in the Hedstrom Union Company, president of the Chairtown Manufacturing Company, director in the S.
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& E. Manufacturing Company, and a director in the New England Go Cart Company. Politically he sup- ports the Republican party, but has never taken a lead- ing part in public affairs. He is a member of Hope Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; Gardner Lodge, No. 1426, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and the Ridgely Club and Ridgely Country Club.
Mr. Shuffleton married, on December 23, 1899, Anna Neylon, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and they are the parents of one daughter, Mildred Eleanor, a graduate of Gardner High School and Becker's Business College of Worcester, Massachusetts, who is now associated with the Gem Crib & Cradle Company as bookkeeper.
GEORGE VOSE UPTON-The history of the Up- ton family dates back in England to the days of the Norman Conquest. The lineage of the family is traced for twelve centuries in direct line in Cornwall to the ancestor, De Uppeton, of Upton. While the family has spread widely over England, Scotland, and Wales, the original seat of the family was Upton, in Cornwall. John Upton, who was born in England about 1612, came to New England about 1652, and settled in Salem Vil- lage, now Danvers, Massachusetts.
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