History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 17

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 17

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Roger Conaot appears by every one to have been regarded as a very upright mao ; and the Rev. Mr. White, who took so active ao interest in the settlement of Massachusetts, styles him "a pious, sober and pru- dent gentleman." That he was deeply pious, no one cao doubt ou re- viewing hie course. The petition for the change of came from Beverly to Budleigh eads in this strain : " If this, my ente, may find acceptation with your worships I shall rest umbly thaokfull, and may praiers shall nut cease unto the throne of grace fo. God's guidance and his blessing to be on all your weightie proceedings, and that instice aad righteousness may be everie where adoministered, and sound doctrine, truth and holi- ness everie where taught and practised throughout this wilderness to all posterity, which God grant. Amed." The court, however, did not grant the " umble petition," and Beverly the name is to this dity.

It has been claimed that, strictly speaking, Roger Cooaot was the first colonial Governor of Massachusetts. Probably the Endicotts and Wio- thrups would aut concede that. Yet there is no doubt that he was Gov- ernor of the little colony that first made a permanent settlement withio our herders.

The picturesque little island in the bay, aow generally known as Gov- ernor's Island-sometimes as Winthrop's-was first named Cooant's Island, in honor of the worthy old Roger. Ja 1632 it was granted to Governor Winthrop for a garden. Thence it was called Winthrop's or Governor's lalaod.

disruption of that he joined the Democratic ranks and still maintains his Jeffersonian principles. He has not been much in public office, though always interested in public affairs ; has been something of a military man, though not exposed to the "shocks of war," as he served in peaceful times; has held brigade and staff offices, and been a judge advocate.

Sterling, Mr. Conant's native place, is much in- debted to him in various ways, especially for the generous gift of the funds for the erection of the brick edifice for the Free Public Library, and offices for the town authorities. The building was dedicated to the memory of his eldest daughter, Elizabeth Ann Conant.

Mr. Conant has been twice married. His first wife was Maria Estabrook, daughter of Hon. Joseph Esta- brook, of Royalston, whom he married in October, 1833, and by whom he had two daughters, neither of whom are living. His second wife was Elizabeth S. Wheeler, granddaughter of Rev. Joseph Wheeler, Unitarian minister and register of probate. She was also a granddaughter of Rev. Dr. Sumner, so long the able minister of the First Church of Shrewsbury.

A genealogy of the Conant family has been pub- lished, by which the lines may be traced to the good old settler Roger, and wherein the notable achieve- ments of some of the later members may be found recorded.

HON. CHARLES AUGUSTUS DEWEY.1-Judge Dewey is deservedly pre-eminent among Milford's most dis- tinguished, honored and trusted citizens. His pedi- gree, heredity and education gave him an auspicious introduction to public life, which he has worthily justified by his own exertions. He was born in Northampton, Mass., December 29, 1830. His father was Hon. Charles Augustus Dewey, for nearly thirty years judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and his mother a sister of Governor De Witt Clin- ton, the pride of New York's executive chair. He was fitted for college at Williston Seminary, East- hampton, and graduated from Williams College in 1851. He first studied law with his brother, the late Hon. Francis H. Dewey, of Worcester; then a year at the Harvard Law School, and afterward in the city of New York, where he was admitted to the bar in 1854. Having practiced law there till the fall of 1856, he went to Davenport, Iowa, and pursued his practice for two years. He came to Milford in March, 1859, and for the next two years was a pro- fessional partner of Hon. Hamilton B. Staples.

In 1861 he was appointed trial justice. In 1864 the Police Court of Mitford was established, and he was appointed judge. He held this office till the Third District Court of Southern Worcester was or- ganized, in 1872, when he was appointed judge of said court, and has since discharged the duties of that office down to the present time. Meanwhile he

! By Rev. Adio Ballou.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

has served seven years on the School Committee of Milford, and for some time as its chairman. For nearly twenty years he has been a trustee of the town library and of late chairman of the board.

In all these professional and official positions Judge Dewey has discharged his responsible duties not only with admirable ability, fidelity and prompt- itude, but to such complete satisfaction of all parties concerned as rarely falls to the lot of one obliged to deal with so much conflicting mentality and interest. He has won for himself a remarkable amount of approbation and very little censure even from those whose passions and prejudices he has crossed. He is learned in legal lore, wears an inherited mantle of judicial rectitude, and holds the scales of legal equity with a firm hand of clemency. At his bar the inno- cent and guilty are alike sure of both justice and kindness. In public and private intercourse he is intelligent, candid, conscientions and courteous, and therefore universally respected. In social life he is urbane, genial, modest and dignified, and so welcome to every reputable circle. In politics he is a stanch Republican, in religion au exemplary Congregation- alist, and in literature an amateur of the best. He is simple in his personal habits, temperate, physiologi- cally circumspect and averse to all forms of extrava- gance. In social and domestic affairs he is unosten- tatious, prudent and economical, without stinginess, and puts intellectual entertainments far above sensu- ous luxuries. His health is delicate rather than robust, and he watches over it so as to make the best of it, thereby managing to execute a large amount of business on a small capital of physical strength. He is a man of strong convictions on subjects he deems important, and pronounces his opinions without equivocation when properly necessary, but is not a controversialist from choice, and never puts on airs of dogmatic assumption or offensive severity towards opponents. He evidently desires to be the friend and well-wisher of his race, and, so far as compatible with true moral integrity, to live peaceably with all men. Of the many commendable ways iu which he is practically exemplifying this laudable desire, it will hardly be expected that a brief biographical sketch should make detailed mention. Perhaps the few already indicated may suffice.

Judge Dewey was married to Miss Marietta N. Thayer, daughter of Alexander W. and Marietta (Dustan) Thayer, born in Worcester, June 22, 1847 ; ceremony in Milford, March 12, 1867, by Rev. George G. Jones. She has the ancestral honor of being a descendant of the celebrated Hannah Dustan, of Indian captivity renown. This marriage was one of mutual, intelligent affection, and has been a happy one. Mrs. Dewey has proved herself worthy of her husband, and their connubial house has been a plea- sant one. They have one promising daughter,-Maria Thayer Dewey, born in Milford, August 8, 1872. May mauy divine benedictions rest on this family group.

THOMAS H. DODGE1 was born September 27, 1823, in the town of Eden, county of Lamoille, State of Vermont, being the fourth son of Malachi F. Dodge and his wife, Jane Hutchins, who were married in Belvidere, Vt., Jan. 9, 1812. His father, Malachi F., was born in New Boston, N. H., Aug. 20, 1789; his grandfather, Enoch Dodge, was born in Beverly, Mass., 1762, and where his great-grand- father, Elisha Dodge, was born May 19, 1723, and who was the fifth and last child of Elisha Dodge, of Beverly, and his wife, Mary Kimball, of Wenham, Mass., who were published Oct. 8, 1709. Young Dodge had the advantages of good district schools, his father being a well-to-do farmer. The family subsequently moved to the town of Lowell, Vt., and resided on a farm there until Thomas was about four- teen years old, when his eldest brother, Malachi F., Jr., having secured a desirable position with the Nashua Manufacturing Co., of Nashua, N. H., a change of residence was made by the family to that place.

At Nashua, Thomas H. attended for a time the public schools, and then entered Gymnasium Insti- tute, at Pembroke, N. H. At this institution he made rapid progress, and ranked among the first in his class.

Returning to Nashua, he secured a position in the spinning and weaving departments of the Nashua Manufacturing Co., which gave him an opportunity to become familiar with those departments, in the art he was desirous of fully understanding. In this po- sition he remained until he gained a full knowledge of the processes while at the same time earning money sufficient to permit him to take a course of study in the Nashua Literary Institute, then under the charge of Prof. David Crosby. In the meantime he had been pursuing a course of study in elementary law, the books being obtained from one of the leading law firms of the place, who encouraged him in his studies. IIe also continued his studies in Latin un- der a private tutor.

Diligent and careful investigations and study into the early rise and progress of cotton manufactures in the United States had also engrossed his attention, as being intimately connected with the business in which he was engaged, -he was, in fact, an enthusiast in those early years upon the great good and national prosperity that would result from mechanical and manufacturing industries if properly encouraged, and in the year 1850, he published his "Review of the Rise, Progress and Present Importance of Cotton Man- ufactures of the United States; together with Statis- tistics, showing the Comparative and Relative Remun- eration of English and American Operatives."

When he first became a resident of Nashua, the Nashua Gazette was printed in a rear room in which the post-office was located, and young Dodge would

1 Extracts from extended biography.

Thor Ho Dodge

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

go in and watch the operation of the hand-press used for printing the paper, and his quick mind at once ran to devising some way to print on a plane surface and yet use a rotary motion, so as to print from a roll of blank paper. The Nashua and Lowell Railroad was something new, and he took an interest in look- ing at trains as they came in, and one day he noticed that the parallel-rod, which connected the driving- wheels, had the very motion which he wanted, and he drew the plan of a press, and later made one which worked perfectly and attracted much notice. One day, shortly after a description of the press had appeared in the public journals, a gentleman called to see Mr. Dodge, who found him to be a Boston manufacturer by the name of John Bachelder. Mr. Bachelder frankly made known his business and the object of his visit. He was largely engaged in the manufacture of cotton bags for salt, flour and similar materials. He said he had seen the notice of the press and came to see it, since he thought it was just what he wanted. Said he wanted to print the cloth direct from the bale, and should like to see it work. The press worked perfectly, was bought by Mr. Bachelder and patented, and came into very general use.

The publicity of this invention was the beginning of a new era in machinery for printing paper, which resulted iu the production of the lightning presses of the present day. Being now in the possession of suf- ficient funds, he decided to study law.

In 1851 he entered the office of Hon. George Y. Sawyer and Colonel A. F. Stevens, of Nashua, N. H. As an illustration of the quick appreciation and util- ization by Mr. Dodge of favorable opportunities, he, while a law student, saw that the prospective city of Nashua must necessarily extend in a short time to the south, and with two other gentlemen purchased a large part of the Jesse Bowers farm, lying on the west of South Main Street, and had it surveyed and platted as an addition to Nashua.

The lots were in demand as soon as offered, and this investment proved very profitable, while, at the same time, adding much to the prosperity of the new city, which was soon after chartered, Mr. Dodge being elected a member of the first City Council. He was admitted to the bar December 5, 1854, and com- menced practice in Nashua. Aside from his position as a lawyer, he was extensively and publicly known as a skilled manufacturer, a meritorious inventor and a man of science, and which attainments having at- tracted the attention of Hon. Charles Mason, then com- missioner of patents, he was, in March, 1855, appointed to a position in the examining corps of the United States Patent Office, Washington, D. C. At first he held the position of an assistant examiner, but was soon promoted to the position of examiner-in-chief.

When the famous Hussey Guard patent for mowing and reaping-machines came up for an extension, many of the ablest lawyers in the United States were

engaged as counsel, either for or in opposition to the extension. Judge Mason referred the application to Mr. Dodge, who reported the invention both new and novel at the date of the patent, and that, under the law, Hussey was entitled to the extension. This re- port and decision was confirmed by Judge Mason, and the extension granted. Litigation in the Fed- eral Courts soon followed, to test the validity of such action and the patent, and both were fully confirmed in the Circuit Courts of the United States, and which decisions of the Circuit Courts were subsequently sustained, on appeal, hy the Supreme Court of the United States.

While Judge Mason remained at the head of the Patent Office the assistance of Mr. Dodge was con- stantly required in appeal cases, and upon the ap- pointment of Judge Holt his services were still relied upon by the new commissioner of patents.

Judge Holt, in the administration of the office, reached the conclusion that a permanent court or board of appeals ought to be established to meet the public wants, and he appointed the three chief ex- aminers, viz. : Thomas H. Dodge, DeWitt C. Law- rence and A. . B. Little. The establishment of this board was a movement of great importance.

The decisions of the Board of Appeals, under the direction of Mr. Dodge, changed the entire aspect of the business before the Patent Office; order, justice and promptness in its official actions were recognized by applicants throughout the country, while a stimu- lus was given to the inventive skill and ingenuity of the nation that resulted largely, no doubt, in the production of many of the great and valuable inven- tions of the past thirty years. He resigned Novem- ber 2, 1858.

Mr. Dodge was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States, and for twenty-five years and more, thereafter, he had a very large and profita- ble law practice in patent causes, and was, during that time, actively engaged in the great suits relating to the sewing machine, mowing and reaping machine, corset, horse hay-rake, wrench, loom, barhed wire, machines for making the same, and numerous other valuable patented iuventions involving millions of dollars.

In the early part of 1864, Mr. Dodge located in Worcester, where he had previously had a law-office in the city, and hesides was one of the active man- agers of the Union Mowing Machine Company.

It was while residing in Washington that Mr. Dodge devised the present plan of returning letters uncalled for to the writers thereof, and on the 8th of August, 1856, submitted in writing a detailed state- ment of his plan to the Postmaster-General, Hon. James Campbell, and in due time it received the sanction of law, and the present generation receives and enjoys advantages resulting from the change.

Mr. Dodge was a strong supporter of the Union canse during the Rebellion, and while he remained

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in Washington his house was open to those engaged in relieving the sick, wounded and dying soldiers ; Mrs. Dodge, too, also joining with others in visiting the hospitals to distribute food and delicacies sent from the North to Mrs. Harris and Miss Dix, for the sick and wounded. His youngest brother, Capt. Elisha E. Dodge, of the Thirteenth New Hampshire Regiment, fell mortally wounded in the assault on Petersburg, Va., in June, 1864, and died at Fortress Monroe, June 22, 1864.

In 1881 he, in connection with Mr. Charles G. Washburn, organized the Worcester Barb Fence Company, he being president and Mr. Washburn sec- retary and manager, and for which company the late Stephen Salisbury, Esq., built the large factory at the corner of Market and Union Streets. The plant and patents were subsequently sold to the Washburn & Moen Company.

Mr. Dodge was married, June 29, 1843, to Miss Eliza Daniels, of Brookline, N. H.

In the grounds of Mr. Dodge is the "Ancient Willow." (See illustration and poem by Harriett Prescott Spofford, elsewhere in this work.)

AUGUSTUS GEORGE BULLOCK.1-Mr. Bullock is a son of the late Governor Alexander H. Bullock, whose portrait, with a biographical sketch, appears elsewhere in this work. He was born in En- field, Conn., on the 2d of June, 1847, and was edu- cated in private schools, being fitted for college by the late E. G. Cutler, who was afterwards professor of modern languages in Harvard College. He en- tered Harvard in 1864 and graduated in 1868.

After traveling a year in Europe he commenced the study of law, pursued the usual course, and in due time was admitted to the bar in Worcester, He soon went into practice, occupying offices with Seua- tor Hoar.

In 1882 his father, Governor Bullock, who had then recently been elected president of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company, died; and during the year it was determined to change the policy of the company, which had been of a somewhat limited character, and make it one of the leading institutions of the kind in the country.

It was in January, 1883, that the affairs and inter- ests of this now widely-known and popular a-surance company were submitted to the management of the subject of this sketch, he being elected president and treasurer. He accepted the responsible position, en- gaged earnestly in the work, arduous as it promised to be, and has been eminently successful. The sug- gestions for extended usefulness were efficiently and rapidly carried forward, and new life and healthful growth became visible in every department. Since his instalment, which was but about six years ago, the business of the company has been more than quadrupled, and is adding to its assets accumulations

of nearly half a million dollars annually. Its opera- tions and reputation are not now by any means lim- ited to Massachusetts or New England, it having attained a large business, especially in the Middle and Western States.

But it is not alone as president and treasurer of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company that Mr. Bul- lock is well and widely known. He is a director in the Worcester National Bank, in the Worcester Gas Light Company, in the Norwich and Worcester Rail- road, in the Worcester County Institution for Sav- ings, and president of the State Safe Deposit Com- pany. He is also a trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital and of the Free Public Library, and a mem- ber of the American Antiquarian Society.

For an intelligent appreciation of literary and social observances of the higher order Mr. Bullock is well fitted by education and taste. And few places afford better opportunities for the development of refined sentiment than cultured Worcester. He has many of the genial traits of his honored father, many of his common-sense views and approachable amenities-traits and habits that never fail of leading to high social position. So then we find him, now in middle life, sustaining in the business world a high reputation for financial skill and ability, and in so- cial life a position well worthy of aspiration.

In religious sentiment Mr. Bullock ranks with the Unitarians, having departed somewhat from the chosen faith of his fathers. His grandfather was of the rigid old New England "orthodox" type; but his father, after reaching manhood, embraced the faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and to the end of his life delighted in its charming liturgical form of worship. In political sentiment he ranks with the Democratic party.

Mr. Bullock was united in marriage, October 4, 1871, with Mary Chandler, daughter of Dr. George and Josephine Rose Chandler, and four male chil- dren have been born to them, one of whom died in infancy.

FRANCIS ALMON GASKILL 2 was born in Black- stone, Worcester County, on the 3d day of January, 1846. Until the year 1860 he lived in that town. In 1860 he moved to Woonsocket, R. I., and in the High School of that town, under the instruction of Howard M. Rice, Esq. (now one of the proprietors of the well- known Mowry and Goff School in Providence), he fitted for college. Iu the autumn of 1862 he en- tered Brown University, and was graduated in 1866. He was occupied as private tutor to the sons of Mr. Clement B. Barclay, of Newport, R. I., from October, 1866, till June, 1867, and thus had the advantage of that most excellent mental instruction which comes from teaching others.

In September, 1867, he entered the Law School of Harvard University, and remained there, a close

1 By James R. Newhall.

2 By Herbert Parker.

al. Fullade

1xix

THIE BENCH AND BAR.

student, till October, 1868, when. at the request of the late Hon. George F. Verry, he entered his office as clerk, and was duly admitted to the bar of this county March 3, 1869. Later he was associated with Mr. Verry as his partner, and so continued till Mr. Verry's death, in 1883.

Mr. Gaskill was married, October 20, 1869, to Miss Katherine Mortimer Whitaker, of Providence. For a considerable time Mrs. Gaskill was an invalid, and for the last few years of her life suffered almost con- stantly from a painful illness, which she bore with a truly beautiful fortitude and cheerfulness. She died January 25, 1889, leaving two children.

In 1875-76 Mr. Gaskill served as a member of the Common Council of the city of Worcester. In 1876 he was chosen one of the trustees of the Worcester Academy, and has served in that capacity contin- uously till the present time. He was elected a trustee of the Free Public Library of Worcester for six years from 1878 to 1884, and in 1886 was elected to fill a vacancy in that board, of which he was presi- dent in the year 1888.

In 1884 he was elected one of the trustees of the People's Savings Bank, and still serves on that board. In 1888 he was elected one of the trustees of Brown University. He is also a director of the State Mu- tual Life Assurance Company of Worcester, an insti- tution whose standing and reputation in the financial world is such as to make a position in its directorate one of great honor and importance.

In 1883, during the illness of the district attorney, Hon. Frank T. Blackmer, Mr. Gaskill filled that office by appointment. In 1886 he was elected dis- trict attorney, to serve from January, 1887, to January, 1890, succeeding Col. W. S. B. Hopkins, whose bril- liant and distinguished abilities and character had made his administration memorable.

It will thus be seen, from the preceding recital of some of the various positions of importance and responsibility to which Mr. Gaskill has been called, that he has possessed in a large measure the confi- dence and esteem of those to whom he has been known. In the discharge of the duties of educa- tional, charitable, financial and professional trusts, it is obvious that he has had a training and experience that has fitted him to deal judiciously with the mul- titudiuous interests which may be involved in the discharge of his existing official duties.

He has had personal and continuous acquaintance with and has shared in the direct management of affairs which make up and are essential elements in our complex industrial, social and governmental sys- tem. He has had an active and successful pro- fessional life.

Mr. Verry, with whom he was long associated, was one of the acknowledged leaders of the bar : his cool judgment, marvelous readiness in the crisis of a case and his brilliant powers as an advocate rendered him almost invincible, in the trial of causes. Mr. Gaskill

was far too apt and able a pupil to fail to profit from his close professional and personal intimacy with Mr. Verry. The opportunity for study thus given him in the practice of the law has abundantly equipped him for his arduous and responsible duties as prose- cuting officer. While Mr. Gaskill was acting dis- trict attorney the now famous case of Commonwealth vs. Pierce came before our Criminal Court. The de- fendant was a so-called physician, and, by reason of treating a patient with baths and poultices of kero- sene oil, finally produced her death. JIe was in- dicted for manslaughter. It was extremely doubtful whether the defendant Pierce could be convicted, by reason of a much questioned decision of the Supreme Court in an early case. It was, however, of grave moment to bring this vexed question again to the bar of the Supreme Court for revision. The indictment, a remarkably skillful piece of criminal pleading, was drawn by Mr. Gaskill, with the able assistance of C. F. Baker, Esq., then assistant district attorney. Later, after a closely contested trial, Col. Hopkins, then dis- trict attorney, managing the government's case, a ver- diet of guilty was rendered ; and after exhaustive argu- ments of the law questions before the Supreme Court the conviction of the defendant was sustained, largely through the courage and confidence which Mr. Gaskill had in the righteousness of this cause, the original prosecution of which was instituted by him. We now have the decision of the Supreme Court that homicidal medical pretenders shall not escape responsibility for the fatal results of their incompe- tency on the plea that ignorance and not malice caused the death of their victim.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 17

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576