History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 187

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 187

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Mr. Earle was commissioned by President Lincoln as postmaster of Worcester, July 16, 1861. He was re-appointed by President Johnson, July 7, 1865. Soon after this date he received a circular endorsing the policy of Mr. Johnson, with a request for his signature. His principles and his conscience alike forbade his signing, and after a second circular had been sent him, which he treated with silence, as he had the first one, his removal from office quickly fol- lowed.

Mr. Earle married, June 6, 1821, Sarah, daughter of Tristram aud Sarah (Folger) Hussey, of Nantucket. He died at Worcester, February 8, 1874. They had nine children, five of whom survive.

The reader is referred, further, to the volume : " Ralph Earle and his Descendants. Compiled by Pliny Earle [a brother of J. M. Earle], of Northampton. Worcester, Mass. : Press of Charles Hamilton, 1888."

1 Mr. Drew died at Dorchester, November 12, 1888, aged sixty-nine years. For an account of his life, eee the Boston Herald and the Wor- cester newspapers of the time.

(amin Saft )

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WORCESTER.

CALVIN TAFT.

Calvin Taft was born in Roxbury, Mass., Janu- ary 29, 1813, his father being Adolphus Taft, of Northbridge, Mass. He entered into a business life at an early age, and when a boy was employed iu the store of Peter Farnum, of Farnumsville, Graf- ton. He afterwards opened a small store in Mill- bury, Mass., and later returned to Grafton, where he had a store at Leland's Landing, on the old Prov- idence Canal. His natural adaptation to mercantile life was shown by having all this experience before he was twenty-five years of age, for, at that age, in 1838, with the characteristic spirit of enterprise of New England's sturdy, advancing men, he went in search of fields of larger promise. That year found him in the South, at Hawkinsville, Ga., where he conducted a store of general merchandise. He took cotton from the planters, in small quantities, in ex- change for goods. Coming in this way to acquire a judgment in the buying and selling of cotton, and getting interested in the trade, he sold his store to de- vote his entire attention to it, which he did for nearly a quarter of a century. So shrewd had been his man- agement, and so prosperous his labors, that several thousand bales of cotton were in his warehouses when the war broke out, the greater portion of which was lost during the war.

In the spring of 1861, nothing daunted, Mr. Taft returned to the North, and for four years was in the cottou trade in New York City. He then re- moved to Worcester, Mass., where his financial abilities were recognized-as they had been where- ever he had been located. He was one of the first directors of the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Company.

Though he ever after retained his residence in Worcester, yet he had large business interests else- where. At Holyoke, Mass., he was identified with the Franklin Paper Company, which was organized in 1866, being its first president. The capital stock of the company was sixty thousand dollars, and the producing power of the mill three tons per day of en- velope and colored flat papers. Three years later, when the Albion Paper Company was organized by Mr. Taft's son-in-law, Mr. James H. Newton, of Hol- yoke, he became president of the corporation, and was connected with it till the time of his death. His son, Edward C. Taft, is at present the agent and treasurer of this corporation. This mill produces eighteen tons daily of book .paper, engine-sized flats and card - boards. The capital stock upon organizing was sixty thousand dollars. Mr. Taft's domestic, social and re- ligious life was equally fortunate as was his business career. He was three times happily married. His first wife was Susan, daughter of Jonathan Wads- worth and Tabitha Warren Wadsworth, of Farnums- ville, Grafton, Mass. The second wife was Eliza Taft, daughter of Zadok and Abigail Bennett Taft, of Uxbridge, Mass. His third wife, who survives him, is

Cornelia, daughter of Charles Brigham and Susannah Baylies Brigham, of Grafton, Mass. Three children also survive him: Edward C. Taft and Mrs. James H. Newton, of Holyoke, aud Miss Jennie A. Taft, of Worcester. Calvin Taft died at Worcester, June 17, 1881, at the age of sixty-eight years, and left, besides, a good name and a large fortune (twenty thousand dol- lars) in public charities by will. He left a five thousand dollars bequest to Piedmont Church, of Worcester, with which he had long been identified and through which, in his lifetime, benefactions for the needy had found their way from him. His life was one, not only of usefulness, but of genial, quiet manner and kindly deed, a Massachusetts business man whose memory will be always cherished by his many friends.

JOSEPH HENRY WALKER.

Mr. Walker was a son of Joseph Walker, a native of Hopkinton, Mass., and Hannah Thayer Chapin, of Milford. On their marriage they took up their resi- dence in Boston, and there the subject of this sketch was born on the 21st of December, 1829. In February, 1830, the family returned to Hopkinton, and in 1843 removed to Worcester.

Mr. Walker was educated in the district and High Schools of Hopkinton and Worcester, leaving school when sixteen years old. In May, 1852, he was united iu marriage with Sarah Ellen, daughter of Jubal Harrington, of Worcester. She died in August, 1859, leaving a daughter, now the wife of the banker Milton Shirk, of Peru, Indiana. His second wife, Hannah M. (Kelley) Spear, of New Hampton, N. H., he married in April, 1862. By her he had three children : Joseph, now in Harvard Law School ; George, now in Brown University, and Agnes, the wife of Adams Davenport Claflin, son of ex-Governor Claflin, of Massachusetts.

Mr. Walker has filled offices of trust and responsi- bility, some of a political, some of a financial, and others of varied character. At the age of twenty- three years he was elected to the Common Council of Worcester, of which body he was president in 1869 ; was a member of the Massachusetts House of Rep- resentatives in 1879, '80 and '87, serving on the Re- trenchment Committee in 1879 ; was chairman of the Public Service Committee in 1880, and in the latter year was a strong, though unsuccessful, candidate for Speaker. He was chairman of the Committee on Labor in 1887, and second on the Committees on Finance and Expenditure.

He was for several years president of the Worcester Board of Trade, and chairman of the Committee on Foreign Trade and Exports of the National Hide and Leather Association for several years, and also vice- president of the New England Shoe and Leather Association.

Mr. Walker has written and spoken considerably upon questions of trade, banking and coinage, pub-

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

lishing in 1881, through Houghton, Mifflin & Co., of Boston, a monograph entitled "Money, Trade and Banking," which attracted a good deal of attention. and received high encomiums from leading bankers and writers on finance.

Mr. Walker was one of the leading boot and shoe manufacturers in the country from 1851 to 1887, at which time he retired from that business. He is still the senior member of the large leather-house of Walker, Oakley & Co., of Chicago, Ill., which he established in that city in 1868.

The city of Worcester, together with thirty-two adjacent towns in Worcester County and three in Hampden County, compose the Tenth Congressional District of Massachusetts; and from this district Mr. Walker was elected a Representative to Congress on the 6th of November, 1888.

Mr. Walker has great energy and uncommon tal- ent for organizing and administering business affairs, which have given him success as a manufacturer and a large property. His public spirit and liber- ality have been shown conspicuously in his rela- tions with Worcester Academy, whose present pros- perity is due, in great measure, to his generous gifts and his valuable service as president of the Board of Trustees. He has given liberally also to other good objects, and his counsel and aid have always been at the command of any wisely-conceived undertaking to promote the prosperity of the city or the well- being of its people. In public as in private matters he is one of those men who bring things to pass. And though his quickness of perception, independence of character, zeal and activity, his frank and emphatic manner of speech and his impatience sometimes with those less prompt in decision and action have caused him to be regarded as unduly masterful, he has been and is a great and valuable force in the political, municipal, industrial and social life of Worcester.

JOIIN EDWIN SMITH.

Mr. Smith is a native of Shirley, Middlesex County, and was born on the 21st of Angust, 1832. He re- ceived an academic education, and while still in early life entered upon that business career which has been on the whole one of very marked success, not that he has been entirely, or in a much greater degree than others, exempt from the vicissitudes that are inci- dental to business life,- that life which in all its phases is exposed to the wiles of the deceitful and untrustworthy, the failures of the incompetent and the numberless hidden dangers that interrupt the progress of one who climbs the ascent of fortune's hill. Now, however, at an age verging on three-score years, he has the satisfaction of finding himself in affinent circumstances, and at the head of a business still flourishing and with bright prospects for the future.

Mr. Smith's business is cotton manufacturing, one

of the industries that has made Worcester what she is. And the growth and development of his business during the series of years that he has been numbered among her citizens is but typical of the growth and development of the city itself. His has been em- phatically a business life, undisturbed by aspiration for political distinction or for any of the public positions which have snch damaging attractions for so many of us. But he has not beeu one to shnn the common duties of good citizenship, or refuse to bear his full share in the obligations and burdens neces- sary to perpetuate its blessings. In public affairs, however, he has never been demonstrative, but quietly, by his vote, by his liberal contributions and sound suggestions, has performed his part. Though not an active politician, and never a political office- holder or office-seeker, he has yet decided opinions on local as well as national topics, is never averse to expressing them, and, if need be, giving his reasons for their maintenance. As far as party affiliation is concerned, he is a firm adherent of the present Republican party, an uncompromising advocate of their principles and policy.

Though not what is popularly known as an office- holder, he has yet for many years filled places of the highest trust and responsibility in institutions of im- portance and usefulness, such as that of president of the Mechanics' Savings Bank, director in the Me- chanics' National Bank, director in the Central Mas- sachusetts Railroad and trustee for the bond-holders of the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad. He has likewise been postmaster of Smithville for the last twenty-nine years and still holds the office. . In these and in some others, where financial skill and trustworthiness are of the first importance, his man- agement and influence have been productive of most beneficial results.

In religions sentiment Mr. Smith ranks as a Unita- rian, but is ever willing to accord to those of different views conscientiousness and a faithful regard for truth. He has been twice married, his first union taking place January I, 1864; and all his children- three sons and one daughter-are now living.

Mr. Smith is a thinking rather than a wordy or demonstrative man ; but his reserve, if such it may be called, is not tinged by moroseness and he is not given to misanthropie croakings. His intercourse in public is frank and confiding, and his social and domestic habits are such as to secure a large circle of apprecia- tive and sympathetic friends. His residence is among the finest in Worcester, and both within and without affords ample evidence of refined taste and abundant means-a home where the endearments of domestic life find full fruition.

PHILIP LOUIS MOEN.

One of the most prominent business men of Wor- cester, for the last twenty-five years, has been the individual whose name appears above. He is presi-

Harren William,

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WORCESTER.

dent of the notable Washburn and Moen Manufac- turing Company, which will be found spoken of in other connections, in the present work, as one of the largest, if not the very largest, manufacturing con- cern in the great manufacturing centre, Worcester. Indeed, it is said to be the most extensive wire man- ufacturing company, under individual ownership and management, in the whole world.

Mr. Moen was born in Wilna, N. Y., November 13, 1824, and was a son of Augustus R. and Sophie Ann Moen. His initiation into business life was in a hardware store in New York, in which wire from the Washburn mill in Worcester was sold ; and not long after he became acquainted with a daughter of Deacon Ichabod Washburn, the originator and pro- prietor of the business, and married her in 1846. The next year he settled in Worcester, and the firm I. Washburn & Moen was formed, the business being wire-drawing and rod-rolling. This was when Mr. Moen was about twenty-three years of age. And the business has continued essentially the same. But in 1868 it began to be carried on under the name of the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Co., the corpora- tion being established by legislative act. The business has steadily increased till at the present time it has reached gigantic proportions. They now employ some three thousand workmen, and turn out about two hun- dred and fifty tons daily. They manufacture wire, in great variety, of copper, steel and iron ; and of all sizes.

The matrimonial alliance of Mr. Moen seems to have had most satisfactory results, beyond the circle of home and domestic life, for Deacon Washburn writes in his diary, 1866 : " In 1850 I took as a partner my son-in-law, P. L. Moen. In him I have had a most efficient aid in bringing up the business to its present mammoth size. While he makes no claim to be a practical mechanic, he has, by his exactness, promptitude and aptness for business generally, snp- plied a deficiency in myself indispensable to success. He has managed with rare ability our finances, a de- partment of the business for which I never had the taste or inclination."

Mr. Moen, though not a college graduate, nor one claiming special advancement in book learning, is yet a man of much intelligence and elevated thought, a judicious and active friend of all approved educa- tional movements and institutions, and one ever ready to further his views by liberal contributions. His services on the School Board have been highly appreciated, and as trustee of the Worcester Poly- technic Institute, since 1869, and treasurer of the same for seven years, he has so acquitted himself as to merit and receive the highest approval.

In the more active scenes of political life he has not been much found, thongh on public questions his views and sentiments have had decided expression and due weight. In 1885 he was chosen a Presiden- tial elector on the Republican ticket, a fact which sufficiently indicates his party affiliation.

In social life he is regarded as a conscientious Christian gentleman, a man of genial disposition, kindly sympathies, and ever ready to give efficient aid to all true moral and benevolent enterprises. In religious sentiment he is of the New England ortho- dox Congregational stamp, and well known for his broad Christian characteristics.

Mr. Moen has been twice married, his first partner having been a daughter of Deacon Ichabod Wash- burn, as before stated, and his second Maria S. Grant, of Chelsea, Vt. Three children, by the last marriage, one son and two daughters, are now living.

WARREN WILLIAMS.

As a type of rugged manhood of the old-time New England quality, in its triple union of moral, mental and physical stamina, Warren Williams would be a marked man in any community.

Decision of character, tact and sagacity are indi- cated in every line of the strong, earnest face, and when united with his stalwart figure, still erect and supple at nigh four-score years, the picture is com- plete of a man born to achieve snecess in business, and to command the confidence and respect of his associates.

With fewer opportunities, and less ability to turn them to his own advantage, he would still have been a snecessful man by virtue of his native instincts of thrift and perseverance, habits of industry and tem- perance in all things.

With a well-balanced temperament, conservative, but never timorous, naturally sagacious and enter- prising, but willing to work with his hands until a sure foundation had been laid for the future, it is not strange that he was able to retire from active business and enjoy a quarter of a century of free- dom from other than voluntary task.

Warren Williams, the son of Simeon Williams, was born in Woolwich, Me., July 2, 1811. His mother was Lydia Young, whose family, on the ma- ternal side, was near of kin to Alexander Hamil- ton.

The family consisted of nine children-one daugh- ter and eight sons-one of the latter being the late Judge Hartley Williams, for many years an honored citizen of Worcester, who died in 1882.

Early in life Warren Williams learned the carpen- ter's trade, and moved to Leicester, Mass., in 1830.

In 1836 he came to Worcester to engage in the woolen machinery business, then conducted by L. & A. G. Coes, and later by Henry Goulding, with whom he remained for fourteen years, rising from a workman's bench to the position of foreman and superintendent, until 1851, when he became joint proprietor, with Fitzroy, Willard and others, under the firm-name of Willard, Williams & Co.

The business was then located on the corner of Union and School Streets, on the premises now oc-

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

cupied by N. A. Lombard & Co., and proved suc- cessful.

In 1854 Mr. Williams withdrew from the firm, and retired to a farm in the north part of the city, where he resided for a number of years.

In 1858 he bought Charles Ballard's interest in the firm of Ball & Ballard, manufacturers of wood- working machinery, and continued this branch of business under the firm of Ball & Williams until 1861.

On the breaking out of the Civil War they added the manufacture of the Ballard Breech-Loading (Carbine) Rifles, invented by Charles Ballard, the former partner.

The demand for arms of this kind, created by the war, enabled the firm to dispose of their whole pro- duct to a single firm of purchasing agents for the State of Kentucky during the entire period of the war. The business proved very lucrative, and Mr. Williams retired from the firm in 1865, with a com- petence, and has not since been engaged in active business.

He has not, however, been idle, having found ample field for mental activity and usefulness, in congenial duties connected with the banks and other corporate interests with which he has been associ- ated.

For more than fifty years he has been a member of the Union (Congregational) Church, always promi- nent and active in parish matters.

He was the treasurer of the Building Committee when the present edifice was built, and for many months devoted his personal attention to the super- intendence of the work.

One of the original members of the Mechanics' Asso- ciation, he has been a life member for over thirty years, and has filled various offices in that organization.

As a member of the Legislature he was actively interested in procuring the charter for the People's Savings Bank, and has been on the Board of Trustees of that bank for over twenty years, rendering valu- able service on the Financial Committee, and is now one of the vice-presidents of that institution.

He has also been a director of the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Company for the past fifteen years, and for about an equal period he has been identified with the management of the Worcester Protective Union as the chairman of its Board of Trade.

He has recently been chosen one of the auditors of the Providence & Worcester Railroad Corporation.

Always a man of strong political convictions, and stanchly Republican, he is as nearly devoid of po- litical ambition as it is possible for a man to be, and although frequently urged to accept public office, he has steadfastly shunned its honors and responsi- bilities for the past twenty years.

He has, however, served four terms in the State Legislature as a Representative from Ward 8, in the years 1863 and '64, and in 1868 and '69.

During his first term of service the Hon. Alexan- der H. Bullock was the Speaker of the House, and during his second term his neighbor and townsman was the Governor of the Commonwealth.

It is a matter of record that Mr. Williams was re- garded as the Speaker's and Governor's right-hand man as a member of the Committees on Finance and Claims, in all legislation touching the economic ad- ministration of the government.

Warren Williams married Harriet M. Whittaker, of Princeton, Mass., in 1838, and the fortunate couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on the 16th of May last.

They have two children-a daughter, the sunshine of their declining years, and a son, Charles Austin Williams-the trusted and genial assistant cashier of the City National Bank, with which institution he has been connected for twenty-three years. Two grandchildren-Haskell and Warren, sons of Charles -represent the third generation and perpetuate the name.

Descended from a line remarkable on both sides for longevity, Mr. Williams is still hale and hearty, with his faculties undimmed, although now in his seventy-eighth year.

GEORGE SUMNER BARTON.

Among the most extensive manufacturing estab- lishments in Worcester is that known as the Rice, Bar- ton & Fales Machine and Iron Company. The number of workmen employed is large and the products are favorably known in all parts of the country. Mr. Barton, whose name appears at the head of this sketch, was elected president at the time the com- pany was organized under the act of incorporation, in 1867 ; he had, however, been connected with the business from 1845, at which time he entered as an apprentice. In the latter capacity he faithfully served his time, and step by step came to be, at the age of twenty-four, a partner. At present the manu- factures are chiefly of machinery for paper-making and for printing calico, delaines and woolens, for hydraulic presses and other similar heavy iron work. The business is among the most extensive and pros- perous in the city.

At the time Mr. Barton first came Worcester was but an insignificant place compared with what it now is. But she was always fortunate, above most other places, in having among her people individuals conspicuous in various so-called upper walks of life- individuals who gave her a wide reputation and dis- tinguished name .. And though at the present time she can number among her citizens those well-fitted to sustain her reputation for statesmanship, for learn- ing and social culture, it may yet be questioned whether she is not fast approaching that period in her history when she will be best known for her achievements in the industrial pursuits ; for her great

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Kahve D. Lovell

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WORCESTER.

and varied mechanical works; for her many useful inventions, and her countless ingenious labor-saving contrivances. Which class of individuals alluded to -the learned or the mechanical-will prove most conducive to her prosperity and final greatness the writer is not competent to predict.

It is not wise, perhaps, to make comparisons among those to whom Worcester is so greatly indebted, in a mechanical way, where so many appear on almost the same footing. But of the individual whose name is placed above it may be said, without detracting aught from any other whose name stands high on the roll of useful citizens, that his integrity of character and his career of industry, perseverance and self-dis- cipline furnishes an example that may be profitably followed by every young man who aspires to a posi- tion of thrift and respectability like that which he now occupies.

The services of Mr. Barton have been in requisi- tion from time to time in public offices where quick apprehension, good judgment and prompt action were necessary. He has served several terms in the Common Council and likewise in the Board of Alder- men ; has been a Legislative Senator, and in various offices of a more private character, like that of rail- road director and president, and as trustee, vice- president and president of the County Mechanics' Association has rendered valuable service. In all the various official positions he has consented to occupy he has acquitted himself with honor and to the satisfaction of his constituents.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 187

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