History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 185

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 185

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In 1864 Mr. Green became book-keeper in the Me-

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

chanics' National Bank of this city, and in the course of a few months teller in the Worcester National Bank. The latter position he held for several years. Mr. Green became a director of the Free Public Li- brary January 1, 1867, and four years later, January 15, 1871, librarian of the same institution.

The latter is the position which he now holds. A history of the Frec Public Library, including an ac- count of the work done under Mr. Green's adminis- tration of its affairs, is given in another portion of this volume, in the chapter on Public Libraries.

The library has grown rapidly in size and useful- ness under his care. It contained, December 1, 1888, 73,669 volumes. The use of its books in the year ending with that date was 206,290. A feature in that use is the remarkably large proportion of .books that is employed for study and purposes of reference.

Mr. Green is regarded as an authority among li- brarians in respect to matters relating to the use of libraries as popular educational institutions, and in respect to the establishment of close relations be- tween libraries and schools.

He was for several years chairman of the Finance Committee of the American Library Association, and has lately been a member of the council of that or- ganization. At its last regular meeting, held in Sep- tember, 1887, he was elected its first vice-president. He has also been for several years chairman of a committee of the association, the duty of which is to try to secure from Congress legislation satisfactory to libraries for the distribution of public documents.

Mr. Green was a delegate of the American Library Association to the International Congress of Libra- rians held in London in October, 1877, was a mem- ber of the council of that body, and took an active part in the discussions carried on in its meetings. Before the close of the Congress the Library Asso- ciation of the United Kingdom was formed. Mr. Green was chosen an honorary member of that asso- ciation in July, 1878.

He has been for many years a member of the committee appointed by the overseers of Harvard University to make an annual examination of the li- brary of the university, and began, in 1887, to de- liver annual courses of lectures as lecturer on public libraries as popular educational institutions to the students of the school of Library Economy- con- nected with Columbia College, New York City.

Mr. Green was chosen a Fellow of the Royal His- torical Society of Great Britain May 8, 1879, and on April 28, 1880, a member of the American Antiqua- rian Society. Since October 22, 1883, he has been a member of the council of the latter organization. He was also elected a member of the American His- torical Association soon after its formation. October 12, 1882, Mr. Green was chosen a member of the Board of Trustees of Leicester Academy, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Rev. Edward H. Hall, upon his removal from Worcester to Cambridge.

In 1886 he assisted in the formation of the Wor- cester High School Association, and was chosen its first president and re-elected to the same position in 1887.

In the summer of 1886 he was chosen president of the Worcester Indian Association, and held the office for two years. Mr. Green is a vice-president of the Worcester Art Society. He was also at two different times and for several years treasurer of the Worcester Natural History Society.

Mr. Green has written constantly for the Library Journal since its establishment, and has made many contributions to the proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. He has also written papers for the American Journal of Social Science, the Sunday Review of London and other periodicals.

Two books by him were published by the late Frederick Leypoldt, of New York, namely, "Library Aids" and "Libraries and Schools." Both were printed in 1883. The former work, in a less com- plete form, had been previously issued by the United States Bureau of Education as a circular of informa- tion.

At the request of the secretary of the Board of Education of Massachusetts, Mr. Green wrote an ap- pendix to his forty-eighth annual report on "Public Libraries and Schools." The essay was afterwards printed as a separate pamphlet.

Mr. Green has made many addresses and read a number of papers on library and other subjects. Among them are " Personal Relations between Libra- rians and Readers," a paper which was presented to the meeting of librarians who came together in Phil- adelphia in October, 1876, and formed the Ameri- can Library Association (of this paper two edi- tions have been printed and exhausted) ; "Sensa- tional Fiction in Public Libraries," a paper read July 1, 1879, at one of the sessions of the meet- ings of the American Library Association held in Boston in that year (this paper was also printed in pamphlet form and widely distributed) ; "The Re- lation of the Public Library to the Public Schools," a paper read before the American Social Science Asso- ciation at Saratoga in September, 1880 (this address was printed in the form of a pamphlet, and has been widely read and very influential in awakening an in- terest in work similar to that described in it) ; papers and an address on subjects similar to the one last mentioned, read or delivered at meetings of the Amer- ican Library Association in Cincinnati and Buffalo and at Round Island, one of the Thousand Isles in the St. Lawrence River.

The more elaborate historical papers which have been prepared by Mr. Green are: " Gleanings from the Sources of the History of the Second Parish, Wor- cester, Massachusetts," read at a meeting of the Amer- ican Antiquarian Society held iu Boston April 25, 1883, and " The Use of the Voluntary System in the Maintenance of Ministers in the Colonies of Plymouth

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and Massachusetts Bay during the Earlier Years of their Existence," an essay which formed the historical portion of the report of the council of the Ameri- can Antiquarian Society, which Mr. Green presented to that society at its meeting in Boston April 28, 1886.

Both of these papers have been printed in a form separate from the proceedings of the society for which they were written.

Mr. Green is chairman of the committee which has had charge of the assignment of portions of the pres- ent history of the county of Worcester in so far as the history of the town and city of Worcester is con- cerned.

The committee has also read the papers prepared at its request for the history, and made such sugges- tions to the writers, before and after their preparation, as it seemed to it desirable to make.

Mr. Green has himself contributed to the history the chapter on the Public Libraries of Worcester.

CHARLES A. CHASE.

Charles A. Chase is one of onr fellow-citizens who is native and " to the manner born." He was born in the house on Salisbury Street-afterwards con- verted into a double one, and now to give way to the new Armory Building-September 9, 1833.

Anthony Chase, his father, though born in Paxton, June 16, 1791, came to Worcester at a very early age, his father buying a farm on the heights of Fowler Street. He was educated at Leicester Academy, and later married Lydia Earle, daughter of Pliny Earle, of Leicester.1 In the year 1816 he was engaged in busi- ness with his future brother-in-law, John Milton Earle, at first in carrying on a general store in Wor- cester, and later in publishing the Massachusetts Spy. Mr. Chase was the first local agent here of the Blackstone Canal; was county treasurer from 1831 to 1865, secretary of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company from 1831 to 1852, and its presi- dent from that time to his death, August 4, 1879. He was the first secretary of the Worcester Lyceum ; was one of the originators of the Worcester County Mechanics' Association, and held several offices of public trust.2

The subject of onr sketch attended infant school in the little seven-by-nine school-honse which has stood until recently at the north end of Summer Street. He was one of the class that graduated from the Thomas Street Grammar School, in 1845, into the new " Classical and English High School." He remained in the High School for five years, taking, in addition to the classical course, an extended course of mathe- matics, under that most competent instructor, William

E. Starr. During his connection with the High School he printed a juvenile paper, The Humble Bee, which is noticed more fully in the chapter of this history relating to newspapers. He entered Harvard College in 1851, and was graduated in 1855, receiving the degree of A.M. in 1858. By invitation of his friend, Mr. Charles Hale, editor of the Boston Daily Advertiser, he joined the staff of that paper in 1855, and filled the position of reporting the various de- partments and of office editor for seven years. In 1862 he made a five months' tour of Europe, seeking rest, and on his return was led, from family consid- erations, to take up again his residence in Worcester.

In the antunin of 1864 he was elected county treasurer, succeeding his father, and held the office for eleven years. In 1875, Mr. Harvey B. Wilder- who had been appointed by the county commissioners register of deeds at his father's death-gave notice that he should not be a candidate at the polls for the remaining year of his father's term. The Republican County Convention placed a candidate in the field, but a large number of influential gentlemen of both parties, having at heart the interests of this import- ant office, invited Mr. Chase to stand as an inde- pendent candidate. The Democratic County Con- vention also tendered him the nomination, and he was elected, some towns in the connty giving him a nearly nnanimous vote. He served as register for the centennial year of 1876. The managers and dic- tators of the Republican party spared no pains to defeat his re-election. The party lines are always drawn more closely in the year of an election of President, and, having induced Mr. Wilder to with- draw his opposition and to stand as a candidate, the Republicans were enabled to defeat Mr. Chase at the polls, and Mr. Wilder returned to his desk in the office in Jannary, 1877. Mr. Chase was soon after- wards elected secretary of the Worcester Board of Trade.

In 1879 Mr. Chase, under contract with Messrs. C. F. Jewett & Co., of Boston, wrote a history of Wor- cester for the County History published by that firm. This work was required to be done in a limited time, but he was able to incorporate into it considerable matter, the result of original research, which had never before appeared in print. In the same year he served as treasurer and manager of the Worcester Telephone Company. The Western Union Telegraph Company were among the stockholders. The in- struments used were the Edison transmitter and the Gray receiver, and the service which they gave has not been improved upon to the present time. After spirited competition with the American Bell Telephone Company, which had established a rival exchange, the Telegraph Company and the Bell Telephone Company entered into a kind of part- nership, covering the whole country, and the two Worcester exchanges were merged into one, the Worcester gentlemen selling out their stock.

" The biography of Pliny Earle will be found in our " History of Leicester."

2 For an account of the life of Anthony Cbase see Comley's " History of Massachusetts," Boston, Comley Brothers, 1879.

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On November 10, 1879, Mr. Chase was elected treas- urer of the Worcester County Institution for Savings, (succeeding Mr. Charles A. Hamilton, who had died in office,) and still holds that trust. He was secretary of the Worcester Lyceum and Library Association froni 1863 to 1866; vice-president, 1867-68, and on the Lecture Committee from 1866 to 1880; a director of the Public Library from 1868 to 1874; director of the Citizens' National Bank from 1880 to 1889, and of the Worcester National Bank from January, 1888; director of the Merchants' and Farmers' Fire In- surance Company from 1883; is vice-president of the Worcester Art Society, a trustee of the Washburn Memorial Hospital, and a councilor of the Ameri- can Antiquarian Society.

NATHANIEL PAINE.

Nathaniel Paine is a public man in the sense that he has been identified with many of the city of Wor- cester's most important and most cherished institu- tions. He belongs to an old Worcester family, and his Christian name, Nathaniel, appears in each one of its generations since it was founded in America. Stephen Paine emigrated to New England in 1638, from the township of Great Ellingham, Norfolk County, England, and settled in Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He brought with him his wife and three sons, and, as the records show, four servants, though some of them may have been helpers in his business, which was that of a miller. It ap- pears, at least, that he was a man of substance, as well as energy and character. In 1641-42 he re- moved, with four of his townsmen, to Seekonk, and the new settlement, which had the advantage of the ministrations of Rev. Samuel Newman, came pres- ently to be called Rehoboth. The name of Stephen Paine often appears on the records of the new town as holding offices of honor and trust. He died at Re- hoboth in 1679.

One of his three sons disappears from history. The eldest son was called Stephen. His second son, Na- thaniel, born in England, came to New England with his father and became a man of some considerable prominence in Rehoboth, and was a deputy from there to Plymouth Court in 1676-77. The only son of Nathaniel named for his father was the progenitor of the Worcester Paines, and early in life became a resident of Bristol, R. I. He was a judge of Probate, and also one of the Council of Massachusetts Bay from 1708 till his death, in 1723. One of his sons- the third Nathaniel-was a representative in the Colonial Legislature and a judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas. And so we come in the fifth generation to Timothy, born in Bristol, R. I., in 1730, who re- moved to Worcester with his mother in 1739-40, and married, in 1749, Sarah, daughter of Hon. John Chandler and Hannah Gardiner, his wife, by which marriage the Paines and Chandlers became first con- nected.

Timothy had seven sons and three daughters, of whom five were married. Nathaniel, the sixth child, way the grandfather of the present Nathaniel Paine.

He was a representative to the General Court in 1798, was judge of Probate for Worcester County thirty-five years, resigning in 1836 on account of ill health, and was one of the founders and a councilor of the American Antiquarian Society.

He married the daughter of Gardiner Chandler, whose residence was on Main Street, opposite Park Street. Judge Paine's honse and office were on the corner of Main and Pleasant Streets, his garden and grounds extending up the north side of Pleasant Street nearly to Chestnut Street. Judge Paine died in Worcester in 1840. He had seven children. The second son, Gardiner, was in business. He was active in military matters, held the office of major by the appointment of Governor Lincoln, and was a charter member of the Worcester Guards. He was also a prominent member of the Horticultural Society, in which he took an active interest. He was the father of the present Nathaniel Paine, and died in January, 1854.

It may partly appear from this fragment of gene- alogy that the Paines have been prominent in the af- fairs of the day since their ancestor, Stephen, landed on Plymouth shores.

The present Nathaniel Paine is a worthy represen- tative of the name. He was born in Worcester August 6, 1832, and was educated in the public schools of the town. At seventeen years of age he entered the Mechanics' Bank of Worcester, and ever since has devoted himself to financial affairs. His in- telligence and solid trustworthiness brought him early into notice. In 1854 the growing city required additional banking facilities; the City Bank was or- ganized under the State laws, and Mr. Paine, then only twenty-two years of age, was made assistant cashier. Three years later he became cashier, and has held that position ever since. To large business capacity he adds the courteous manners which spring naturally from a kind heart. Such honors as have come to him have been given ungrudgingly. He has not sought them-they have come mainly in the line of his scholarly tastes joined with his methodical training as a banker. His grandfather and his great- uncle were among the founders of the American An- tiquarian Society, and Mr. Paine was early admitted to that ancient and dignified body as a matter of course. Since 1863 he has held the responsible posi- tion of treasurer and custodian of their various and considerable bequeathed funds. He is also a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, the New England Historic Genealogical Society and corres- ponding or honorary member of the Long Island, the Pennsylvania and the Georgia Historical Societies. .

He was one of the founders of the Worcester Nat- ural History Society, and for several years its presi- dent. For a long series of years he was a director of

Um Dickinson

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WORCESTER.

the Free Public Library, and most of the time was the secretary of the board and treasurer of the funds be- longing to the library. He has served in the City Council two years, and was for several years a trustee of the Worcester County Horticultural Society. He is now president of the Worcester Art Society.

These titles may be quickly read, but they count for a vast amount of patient, unsalaried labor for the public welfare, extending over a long series of years.

Mr. Paine has a large and interesting library, bnt its distinguishing feature is not so much costly bind- ings and rare editions, although it is not without these expensive treasures. One of his favorite tasks is to patiently expand volumes by adding to them rare portraits, autographs and MS. bearing ou their contents. In this way, "Irving's Life of Washing- ton," originally in five volumes (the special edition of one hundred and ten copies), has grown to ten vol- umes, and contains rare and almost priceless matter. A " Biographical History of the Fine Arts," in two volumes, has been extended to nine, and the por- traits of artists, originally one hundred, now number upwards of eight hundred.

His volume of "Autographs and Portraits of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence" is com- plete, with the exception of a few autographs.

The making of scrap-books Mr. Paine has culti- vated as a fine art ; nor is the element of humor lack- ing from his collection-the works of Cruikshank, John Leech, Du Maurier and Nast have not been forgotten.

Mr. Paine is the author of several monographs on matters of history and hibliography. Among them may be mentioned " Remarks on the Early Paper Currency of Massachusetts," "Historical and Chron- ological Notes on the Town of Worcester," and " Bib- liography of Worcester History."

WILLIAM DICKINSON.

Worcester has been signally fortunate in having among her citizens many who, though not natives, have by their ability, enterprise and integrity added greatly to her prosperity and renown. By the phrase "who though not natives " is simply meant such as were not actually born within her borders. And it is much to her credit for discernment that she has perceived the good qualities of this class and for her shrewdness that she has availed herself of their effi- cient services and cordially enrolled them among her sons. Even in looking over the biographical sketches in the present volume the student of Wor- cester's history will find much that is striking in the direction here indicated. But while this is said, the fact is not to be forgotten that she has always had many of native birth who have done honor to her name, and contributed their full share in the build- ing up of the fair name she now so pre-eminently enjoys.

Among those who were not natives in the sense indicated must be ranked Mr. Dickinson, whose name appears at the head of this sketch. He was born in Amherst, Mass., on the 6th of October, 1804, and died in September, 1887, having nearly com- pleted his eighty-third year. He was a son of Sam- uel Fowler Dickinson, a lawyer of high standing in the Hampshire bar, and father of a large and rep- utable family, one or two of whom filled responsible public offices in the county.

Mr. Dickinson's education was good, though he was not a college graduate. From the common dis- trict school he entered Amherst Academy, where he received such training as fitted him at the age of fif- teen to enter upon the business life in which he was so successful and acquired so fair a name that he was long regarded as a worthy model for the imitation of all who seek a high position in the business world. He always entertained a great respect for learning, and was liberal in his contributions for the support of educational institutions; was a member of the School Board for three years; gave the bell for the High School and the fountains that now adorn the plat in front of the building. He was a director of the Free Public Library and a member of the Wor- cester Society of Antiquity.

His first employment after completing his educa- tion was in a Boston dry-goods house. He was sub- sequently in the paper manufacture in Hardwick and Fitchburg.

It was in 1829, at the age of twenty-five, that Mr. Dickinson came to Worcester, and here he resided till the time of his decease, nearly sixty years. He at first applied himself in the service of others; was a clerk in two or three business establishments, and then in other similar, but to him rather uncongenial, employment, till 1836, when he was elected to the responsible and trustworthy office of cashier of the Central National Bank. This, of course, was a voucher for his honesty and capability as a financier. He held the office for fourteen years, and such a character did he acquire for promptness and integ- rity in pecuniary matters that he soon found himself in various offices where skill and trustworthiness were of the greatest importance, such as treasurer of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company and treas- urer of the Merchants' and Farmers' Insurance Com- pany, both of which offices he held for many years, not less than forty. He was likewise for a long time a director in the Quinsigamond Bank and in the Providence and Worcester Railroad.

In 1863 Mr. Dickinson, with one or two associates, began the manufacture of paper machinery, which was continued some eight years, and then he en- gaged in the felting business, in which his son, Mr. Samuel F. Dickinson, subsequently became connected with him.

Mr. Dickinson was not what would be called an active politician ; certainly not an obtrusive zealot,

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but from time to time he filled various local offices with credit to himself and benefit to the public. He was a Common Councilman and an alderman for sev- eral terms. So far as he was a partisan he ranked with the Republicans, having been of the old Whig school. By Governor Butler he was appointed a trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital, and for the general he entertained profound respect, almost adoration, induced probably by the efficient services rendered by that able commander during our Civil War.

In his religious views Mr. Dickinson was liberal, but identified with the Trinitarian Congregational- ists. Though a regular attendant on the services of the Union Church, he was not what is technically called a " professor."

Mr. Dickinson became a man of large means, and his liberality kept pace with his accumulations. He was justly regarded as a most valuable citizen, a sympathetic neighbor and a fast friend. In social life he was esteemed for his intelligence, urbanity and far-reaching fellow-feeling. He was twice mar- ried. His first wife was Miss Eliza Hawley, of An- dover. By her he had one son, who became a grad- uate of Brown University and afterwards a lawyer in New York. His second wife was Miss Mary Whittier, also of Andover. By her he had two sons and one daughter. It was the elder son, Samuel F., who became a partner in his father's business. George S., the younger son, was a graduate of Yale. The daughter, Helen W., married Thomas L. Shields, of Pittsburg, Pa.

GEORGE CHANDLER.

Dr. Chandler has been long and favorably known from his connection with New England Hospitals for the Insane. He was born in Pomfret, Ct., on the 28th of April, 1806, and hence has already at- tained an age that few of us reach. He was a son of Major John Wilkes and Mary (Stedman) Chandler. His father was a farmer, and on the farm the son worked till the age of seventeen, attending the district school during the terms usual at that period. After his seventeenth year he was a student in the Academies of Dudley and Leicester, in this State, and that of Woodstock, in Connectiont. He en- tered Brown University, where he remained a part of two years, but graduated from Union College in 1828. He studied medicine with his brother-in- law, Dr. Hiram Holt, of Pomfret ; attended a course of medical lectures at Harvard College, and another at Yale, receiving at the latter the degree of Doctor of Medicine. This was in 1831, in November of which year he settled in Worcester in the practice of his profession.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 185

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464