History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 95

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 95

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Mr. Burleigh made many valnable inventions, and various improvements in other departments of me- chanics, and secured a large number of patents.

Later in life he became interested in railroads, and was a director of the Boston, Clinton, Fitchburg and New Bedford Railroad for several years previous to its consolidation with the Old Colony Railroad, and after the disasters of 1877 he rendered signal service in saving the common stock from wreck, and in placing the preferred stock on a basis which secured to the creditors who accepted it more than the full amount of their claims.

He was also one of the promoters of the New York and Boston Inland Railroad.

His large business interests caused him to be inti- mately connected with banking organizations in town, and he was a director of the Wachusett National Bank from its organization.

Charles Burleigh was, in the true sense of the word, a self-made man. He possessed an acute, well-fur- nished mind, and had acquired a large fund of infor- mation on a wide range of subjects, especially those connected with mechanical and mining industries. The position he achieved in the various spheres of usefulness was not the result of accident or chance, but the legitimate fruit of a life of hard work, patient industry and untiring perseverance.

It may justly be said of him that he did not trifle

Charles Budleigh,

Rodney Wallace

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with the work he had in hand, but entered upon his every-day life thoroughly equipped for the struggle, und he fought hard and long for success, always using unimpeachable methods to attain the desired end.

RODNEY WALLACE.

Rodney Wallace was born in New Ipswich, N. H., December 21, 1823, the son of David and Roxanna Wallace. At the age of twelve he left his home to work for a farmer for the sum of forty dollars for the first year, with the privilege of attending school eight weeks in the winter. At the age of eighteen he was driving freight teams from various places in New Hampshire and Vermont to Boston, and in 1843, at the age of twenty, he entered the employ of Dr. Stephen Jewett, of Rindge, N. H., and traveled through five of the New England States selling Jew- ett's medicines, then well-known and celebrated. He remained here until 1853, when he came to Fitch- burg and formed a copartnership with Stephen Shep- ley, known as Shepley & Wallace. The firm were wholesale dealers in books, stationery, paper and cotton waste, and continued under that name and the name of R. Wallace & Co. until July 1, 1865. On this day the firm was dissolved and the business divided, Mr. Wallace taking the cotton waste department, which he still carries on.

The business has grown, and now he handles about one-quarter of a million dollars' worth of waste a year.

December 31, 1864, Stephen Shepley, Benjamin Snow and Rodney Wallace bought the Lyon Paper- Mill and Kimball Scythe-Shops, at West Fitchburg, and began the manufacture of paper under the name of the West Fitchburg Paper Company, which name has been retained to the present time. Mr. Wallace purchased the interest of his partners, and in Janu- ary, 1869, hecame sole proprietor of the property. Since becoming sole owner he has added largely to the original plant, erected many dwellings, a depot and two new mills, complete with all the most mod- ern improvements, and now produces thirty thou- sand pounds of paper every twenty-four hours.

Since 1864 he has been president and director of the Fitchburg Gas Company ; a director of the Put- nam Machine Company since the same year; a di- rector of the Fitchburg National Bank since 1866; a partner in the Fitchburg Woolen-Mill Company since 1877; and a trustee of Smith College, North- ampton, since 1878. He is a director of the Fitch- burg Mutual Fire Insurance Company ; a trustee of the Fitchburg Savings Bank; a director of the Fitchburg Railroad Company ; a director of the Springfield Trust Company ; and a large stockholder in the Parkhill Manufacturing Company. Besides these he has had the settlement of several large and important estates.

For politics Mr. Wallace has had but little ambi-

tion. He was selectman of the town during the years 1864, '65 and '67.

He was representative to the General Court in 1873, and was unanimously renominated the next year, but declined a re-election on account of ill health. He served as councilor throughout the en- tire administration of Governor Long, during the years 1880, '81 and '82, and in 1888 was elected to represent the Eleventh District in Congress.

July 1, 1885, was dedicated the Wallace Library and Art Building. This building was erected by Mr. Wallace, at an expense of eighty-four thousand dol- lars, and presented by him to the city of Fitchburg free from all conditions except that "it should be under the care and management of the Board of Trustees of the Public Library for the time being, and to be used for a Free Public Library, Reading- Rooms and Art Gallery, and for no other purpose." The building is admirably adapted to the use for which it was intended, and is a continuous source of profit and pleasure to all classes of citizens.

Mr. Wallace married, December 1, 1853, Sophia Ingalls, daughter of Thomas Ingalls, of Rindge, N. H. She died June 20, 1871, leaving two sons- Herbert I. and George R. Wallace. They are asso- ciated with their father in the management of his business. December 28, 1876, Mr. Wallace married Mrs. Sophia F. Bailey, of Woodstock, Vt.

GEORGE JEWETT, M.D.

George Jewett, M.D., of Fitchburg, Mass., was born in Rindge, N. H., April 28, 1825. The ances- tors of the Jewett family, the brothers Maximilian and Joseph Jewett, came to this country in 1638 from Bradford, Yorkshire, England, with about sixty other families, who settled the town of Rowley, Mass. The descendants of these brothers, under various forms of the name, are found in nearly every State and Territory in the Union. The Rindge branch of the family has been identified with the history of the town from its settlement. Many of the family throughout New England, including several near relatives of the subject of this sketch, have chosen the medical profession. His father, Thomas Jewett, M.D., was for many years a highly-esteemed practi- tioner in Rindge.

George Jewett received his early education in the schools of his native town, at the Appleton Academy, New Ipswich, and at the academy at Hancock, N. H. Being led both by natural preference and paternal example to select the medical profession as his future field of usefulness, he matriculated at the Vermont Medical College in Woodstock, Vt., in 1845. There he attended two courses of lectures. Thence he re- paired to the Berkshire Medical School, from which he graduated in 1847. Subsequently he attended another course at Harvard Medical College, in which he had the privileges of hospital practice, under the

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tuition of the late eminent Dr. Jacob Bigelow, of Boston.

Dr. Jewett entered upon the practice of his profes- sion in the latter part of the year 1847, at Baldwins- ville, Mass., where he resided till the summer of 1853, when he removed to Gardner and practiced success- fully in that town for about five years.

In 1858 he sought and found a wider field for energy and skill in Fitchburg, where he now resides. During the war for the preservation of the Union he entered the service of the United States in January, 1862, as assistant surgeon of the Tenth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. He was in General McClel- lan's army through the disastrous campaign of the Peninsula. During the summer, on the banks of the Chickahominy, sickness prevailed to such an ex- tent, that at one time he was the only commissioned medical officer on duty in his brigade. At the battle of Yorktown he received an order to take charge of a hundred wagons, to collect and carry to Yorktown all the sick and wounded left behind on the advance of the army. In this trying and arduous service he removed the sick from the camp to the wagons, some- times only with the help of a female nurse, being obliged to carry them on his back. On the arrival of the hospital train at Yorktown he was detailed for hospital duty. Soon after he was ordered in charge of hospital steamer " Arrowsmith." In this position his duty brought him much into the company of medical officers of the Navy. He carried the wounded and sick from various camps on the Pa- munky and James Rivers to Annapolis, Baltimore and other sanitaria. He was ordered to join his reg- iment at the commencement of the "seven days' fight" in front of Richmond, and at the battle of Malvern Hill volunteered, with two other medical officers, to remain behind as prisoners of war in care of the wounded. On this occasion Dr. Jewett was selected to surrender the medical stores and supplies which were left by our retreating army, and also the wounded soldiers and medical officers in charge, to General A. P. Hill, of the Confederate Army, by whom they were paroled.

After a great variety of service in the Army of the Potomac he was promoted by Governor Andrew, and commissioned surgeon and major of the Fifty-first Massachusetts Volunteers, General A. B. R. Sprague, of Worcester, commanding, and ordered to the De- partment of North Carolina. After some months of service in camp he was ordered to duty as post-sur- geon at Morehead City, on the coast. After a short service at this point he joined his regiment, which was ordered to Harper's Ferry, there to unite with the army of General Meade, after the battle of Get- tysburg. At this period matters began to assume a threatening attitude in New York City, where his regiment was ordered for service, camping at Castle Garden. He was honorably discharged with the regiment at the expiration of the term of enlistment,

July 27, 1863, having been in constant active service, in places of danger from disease or battle, during the whole period.

On his return from military service he resumed practice at Fitchburg, and continued therein until the latter part of 1867. He then made an ex- tensive tour, covering portions of Europe, Egypt, Palestine, Turkey, etc., spending considerable time in European hospitals, and returned home in 1868, with enlarged professional knowledge, powers strength- ened and disciplined by unwonted contact with men and things, and complete adaptation to the needs of suffering humanity.

Dr. Jewett ranks with the leaders of the medical fraternity in Worcester County, and has acquired an enviable surgical reputation. Zealous and diligent in all that pertains to the science and art of medicine and surgery, he has frequently contributed to the en- richment of medical literature.

Among his writings are a paper on "Surgical Injuries of the Head," that was read before the Massachusetts Medical Society, at its annual meeting in 1877 ; and also an article on "The Use of the Aspirator in the Bladder," describing an original mode of treatment adopted in the first operation of the kind known in that section of the State. It was published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal.

Dr. Jewett is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and also of Worcester North Dis- trict Medical Society, and has been honored in many ways by his associates in the medical profession ; he was elected president of the latter society, and, during the years of 1877 and 1878, discharged the duties of this office honorably and well. For many years he has been councilor of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and, in May, 1888, became vice- president of the same.

He was called to the management of the Hospital Cottages at Templeton in June, 1886, and, as the president of this institution, has been untiring in his efforts, and under his able administration of its affairs, the prosperity and usefulness of this institution has been nearly donbled.

At the close of the war he was appointed United States examining surgeon for pensions, which office he still holds. He held for three years a commission as sur- geon and major of the Tenth Massachusetts Infantry, resigning in 1872. He has also been much interested in agriculture, especially in the department of horti- culture, and was president of the Worcester North Agricultural Society during the years 1878 and 1879. In September, 1874, he was appointed physician of the county jail at Fitchburg, which position he now fills.

Dr. Jewett has also taken much interest in the cause of education. From 1869 to 1876 he was a member of the Board of School Committee, and was mainly instrumental in the establishment of the Scientific Department of the High School.

to A. Brown.

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In 1848, November 15th, he was married to Mary E. Sanders, of New Ipswich, N. H. She died in June, 1867, and December 17, 1868, he was married to Mary Brooks, of Roxbury, Mass. Four children of the first marriage, having died in early childhood, sleep with their mother on Laurel Hill. One son, Walter Kendall, horn October 12, 1869, is now in the sophomore class at Brown University.

CHARLES H. BROWN.1

The leading industries of Fitchburg have had their origin in modest and unpretentious beginnings. The pioneers builded better than they knew. In all in- stances the foundations were laid in toil, and sus- tained by self-accumulated capital. The unequal growth of the structures has been measured by the genius and the courage of a generation of whom few remain. The founders were men of enterprise, who displayed a sagacity that met the present and antici- pated the future. They have builded a city and given an individuality to its business interests. Others of the present and of the future may follow in the beaten track, reaping the fruit of their indus- try and sagacity ; but few can wear the laurels of the pioneer or share the honors of the founders of our prosperous city. Younger than many, yet asso- ciated with some of the earlier and prominent busi- ness men of the city, is the subject of this sketch, who has founded an important industry, and whose enterprise has contributed to the material interests of the city.

Charles H. Brown, son of Charles and Nancy (Hall) Brown, was born in Mendon, March 9, 1820. The south part of Mendon, including his native vil- lage, now constitutes the thrifty town of Blackstone, in the extreme southeast part of Worcester County. During his childhood and youth his parents resided in Mendon, in Leyden, Lewis County, N. Y., and in Burrillville, R. I. The circumstances of his youth did not permit him to pursue an advanced course of study; yet he enjoyed and fully improved the ordi- nary school privileges common to the youth of his time. If he was denied many opportunities his early ambition craved, he was trained in habits of indus- try, and was taught the rigorous lessons of self-reli- ance. At sixteen years of age he sought and obtained employment in a machine shop near Greenville, R. I. Subsequently he was employed in the manufacture of a variety of machinery in Blackstone, Providence, R. I., Newton, Whitinsville and in Northford and Waterbury, Conn. In this initial work of his life he acquired skili and developed a native ability which have given him a foremost rank among the practical machinists of his time.

In 1846 Mr. Brown removed to Boston and after a brief connection with Otis Tufts he removed to

Fitchburg in 1849. Here the mission of his life in- vited him to renewed effort and enlarged opportuni- ties. The discipline and preparation of early toil were quickly rewarded by the early achievements of a successful career.

At this time he purchased of John and Salmon W. Putnam one-third interest of an established business in repairing and manufacturing machinery. For several years the firm was known as J. & S. W. Putnam & Co., and was highly successful. Having acquired a practical knowledge of the steam-engine while in the employ of Mr. Tufts, a celebrated builder at that time, Mr. Brown early directed his attention to this line of manufacture. In 1850 the first steam- engine built in Fitchburg was constructed after his designs and under his supervision. In 1856 a work- ing model, with substantial improvements, was made and patented by Mr. Brown and Mr. Charles Burleigh. The patent was assigned to the firui and it has been long and favorably known as the "Putnam Engine." Mr. Brown continued in the management of this de- partment of the business of the firm until failing health compelled him to retire, for a season, from active pursuits.

In 1859 he sold his interest in the Putnam Machine Company, which had been incorporated the previous year, and four years later he commenced business in Newton Lane. In 1866 he sought enlarged facilities in the block on Main Street, now occupied by the Fitchburg Machine Works. In 1871 Mr. Brown per- fected and invented "The Brown Automatic Cut-Off Engine." This invention has won success. To this time its reputation has been increased and its demand has been enlarged. The secret of Mr. Brown's suc- cessful business career is discovered in the unremitted care bestowed upon the minutest detail of the manu- facture. In all his work everything conforms to his exacting taste for a finely-finished surface and a comely outline of form and proportion. In 1873 en- larged facilities were again demanded and a spacious building lot on the opposite side of Main and corner of Willow Street was purchased, and the present sub- stantial hlock was erected and fully occupied in 1876.

Two sons have been admitted to an interest in the business, and the present firm of C. H. Brown & Co. includes Charles H. Brown, Sr., Charles H. Brown, Jr., and Frank E. Brown.

Mr. Brown is a man of positive traits of character. He is zealous and independent. His perception is quick and accurate, his judgment is sound and his in- telligence is clear and comprehensive. His opinions are well-matured, and are always expressed with con- ciseness and precision. Mr. Brown has no ambition for political preferment, yet he has manifested a com- mendable interest in public and in municipal affairs. He was a member of the Common Council two years immediately succeeding the incorporation of the city, and for many years he has been the efficient chairman

1 By Ezra S. Stearns.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of the Board of Water Commissioners. He is a di- rector of the Rollstone National Bank.

Mr. Brown married, May 24, 1847, Miss Emeline J. Hubbard, daughter of Harvey Hubbard, of Berlin, Conn. They have four sons, two of wbom are in business, as stated ; John F. is a graduate of Harvard Law School and has recently been admitted to the bar ; and William A. is now a student in Yale Col- lege.

JABEZ FISHER, M.D.

Jabez Fisher, M.D., was born in Cambridgeport, Mass., April 30, 1824, where he received only the education afforded by the common schools of the time. Engaging in his youth in mechanical pursuits, he found his development limited thereby, and at the age of twenty-three commenced the study of medi- cine. In 1850 he received the degree of M.D. from Harvard College, and began practice in his native town. In May, 1851, he removed to Fitchburg, and continued practice there until the autumn of 1855. In the mean time his early love of horticulture and especially the charms of fruit-growing so urged him forward that he bought the farm on which his life since 1856 has been spent. His fellow-citizens, appre- ciating his abilities, designated him as a candidate of the new American movement, and he was chosen in the election of 1854 as one of the five Senators from Worcester County. At the election of the following year he was again returned, this time by the Repub- lican party. The demands upon his time by legisla- tive service, together with his increasing interest in rural pursuits, determined him to give up the practice of his profession, and he removed to his farm in the autumu of 1856.

Giving his whole time and energies at once to his business, he soon became noted, and an authority in his specialty. After serving two years as secretary he was twice chosen as president of the Worcester North Agricultural Society, and as a delegate of the society to the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture he served two terms of three years each. While a mem- ber of that board, and afterward, he was often called upon as a lecturer before farmers' clubs and people interested in fruit-growing. In 1869 he gave a course of lectures on market gardening before the students of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and again in 1870.

He was one of the first to appreciate the merits of the Concord grape, and, by his successful manage- ment, demonstrated its value, and was largely instru- mental in extending its cultivation in his region. He was never satisfied with any short of the best results; hence his products were always in demand at the highest prices, and were, in consequence, widely known. He has often said that if there were any profit in his or any other business-especially that which dealt in the luxuries of life-it must be found in furnishing the best. Any one could produce medi-

ocrity, but only skill and care could approach per- fection. He had no secrets in his operations. Any- thing that he had discovered or hecome possessed of was at the disposal of any one who chose to inquire. He gave an address on grape culture before the Board of Agriculture at its country meeting at Fitchburg in 1874, also one on injurious insects at Hingham in 1878. He was an early investigator and an advocate of what is now denominated commercial fertilization. Read- ing with avidity the first publications of the great Baron Liebig and others upon this subject, and through bis knowledge of chemistry, to which he de- voted much attention in connection with thestudy of medicine, he was able to keep fully abreast of the de- velopments of the time.

His home, which he calls " Pomoland," or Pomo- na's Land, is beautifully situated on an elevation at the base of Pearl Hill, surrounded by higher land, except a picturesque valley reaching out southeasterly, and lying about a mile and a half north from Fitch- burg Centre. The whole place is a type of the man who made it what it is, and will well repay any one the trouble of a visit.

Notwithstanding Dr. Fisher's devotion to his home and pursuits, he has found time to serve his townsmen in various capacities in addition to his legislative ex- perience. He has been upon the School Committee, was one of the first board of trustees of the Public Library, was several times a selectman and once chair- man of the board. He was chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners while the original works were being constructed, and served for several years after- ward. He has been president of the Fitchburg Co- operative Bank from its organization in 1877, giving to it much thought, and no small portion of its suc- cess is to be attributed to his oversight.

In politics he was originally a Liberty party man, then a Free-Soiler, next an American, then a Repub- lican, and when the Republicans halted on the tem- perance question, a Prohibitionist. He says that he has been a Woman Suffragist since his acquaintance with his mother. He hates shams under any and all circumstances, and his sympathies are ever with the weak and oppressed.

Music has been quite a source of recreation, he having played the organ in church some thirty years. He trained the Fitchburg contingent in preparation for the great Boston Peace Jubilee of 1872 to very good acceptance, and also directed the same chorus for a number of concerts at home.

He has always been much interested in meteor- ology, and has kept a continuous record since Jan- uary, 1857, which possesses much value, and is often consulted.

Jabez Fisher married Roxanna Betton October 8, 1845, from which union two children survive, viz. : Mary L., born November 14, 1846, who married James A. Morton January 1, 1874; and Jabez F., born August 30, 1850, who married Clara A. Ber-

jabez Fisher.

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nard August 20, 1879. A second marriage was con- summated, February 12, 1860, with Lucy B. Hosmer.

In religious belief he is a Universalist. His years set easily, and he serenely awaits the time when his opportunities will be enlarged and his comprehension clearer.

ELI CULLEY.1

Eli Culley, a son of Edward C. and Eliza (Mayall) Culley, was born near Bath, England, February 4, 1840. At the age of fifteen years he came to this country, and found employment in a file manufactory in the city of Lowell. Subsequently he removed to Boston, and while residing there he enlisted in the Forty-third Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, a nine months' regiment, and a military organization of good repute, He was mustered out with the regi- ment at the expiration of the term of service, in the autumn of 1863.

Recovering from the debilitating effect of a ma- larial fever, which was contracted in the service, Mr. Culley removed to Weymouth, and there manufac- tured files on his own account. In 1868 he removed the business to Fitchburg, and from that time he has been an honored resident of this city. His industry and close application to business have been rewarded, and among his fellow-men he is held in high es- teem.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 95

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