History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 191

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 191

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FRANCIS BANGS KNOWLES.

Mr. Knowles is a native of Hardwick, in Worcester County, and was born on the 29th of November, 1823. His early education was sufficient to enable him, at the age of seventeen, to take charge of a district school.

And in the capacity of a teacher he spent a few years, though the profession was not exactly suited to his taste and was pursued with the design of being relin- quished as soon as something more congenial pre- sented itself. He well knew that his success in life depended on his own exertions, and that something of broader scope must engage his attention if finan- cial accumulation were to become a leading object. Yet such an object appears never to have actuated him in the light of an end, but as a means. And it is seen by his after-life, when affluence had been attained, that he did not view wealth as an end to enable him to indulge in luxury and barren ease, bnt as a means by which he could benefit his generation and do something for the good of the world at large. And he was soon pointed to as one who fully recog- nized the higher duties of life, the paramount require- ments of religion, benevolence and good citizenship. It is the example of such an one that stands as a constant admonisher of the drowsy idler, the indifferent and irreverent. It is an example, too, that by its mute warnings and refreshing sympathies is so attractive.

Thus, Mr. Knowles is found a constant and liberal contributor to the churches of the faith in which he was bred and to which he has adhered. To the Plym- outh, the Piedmont Congregational and the Pilgrim Congregational, of Worcester, he has been especially helpful. But other religious societies and charitable institutions of various names and pursuing different ways of benevolence have shared in his bounty and received fresh courage through his wise suggestions and unstinted liberality.

Something, however, should be said of Mr. Knowles' business enterprises, through which he has been enabled to gratify to such a degree his generous incli- nations. Like many another thrifty New Englander, he seemed, during his years of early manhood, to be searching for his true position-the position he was best fitted to occupy, and which would most surely "lead on to fortune." This is a trait that conspic- uously distinguishes the American from the European, inasmuch as the latter seems to feel that the condi- tion in which he was born is that in which he must die; having little conception of the advanced posi- tion an aspiring and energetic man might attain. Was it not Milton who wrote that Providence de- signed a niche for every one-a niche which would, if occupied, ensure the greatest usefulness and the hap- piest end? If that is so, it would seem, in looking over the community, as if many of us had somehow got into the wrong niches. But be that as it may.

After engaging in several manufacturing enter- prises, in a subordinate capacity, Mr. Knowles ap- pears, in 1845, in the first established business of which he was head and director. This was success- ful. It was the manufacture of buckskin gloves and mittens, and in due time developed into that of gen- eral furnishing and the sale of gentlemen's clothing. This was profitably produced for several years, when

James H. Male,

1705

WORCESTER.

his elder brother, Lucius J. (since deceased, but at that time a steam-pump maker in Warren), offered a more desirable situation. A partnership was soon formed. The business was removed to Worcester in 1866, and the manufacture of looms on an enlarged scale commenced, a little in the same line having been done in Warren.

Lucius J., the brother, died in 1884, and since that time Francis B., the subject of this sketch, has been the chief director in the business, which has now attained to such magnitude as to rank among the very first of the industries of Worcester. A company was formed under the name of "Knowles' Loom Works," with Mr. Knowles as president, and has already secured a reputation eclipsed by none. The works are thus spoken of in that handsome and valu- able volume recently published, entitled, “Worces- ter: Its Past and Present :"-"The Knowles Loom Works is one of the largest industries of Worcester. . . . The main building is five hundred feet long and three stories high, with an 'L' one hundred feet long. The looms are inventions of the proprietors, and include those adapted to the manufacture of carpets, velvets, plushes, silk and worsted dress- goods, fancy worsteds, cassimeres, fancy cottons, ginghams, tapes, fine hose, suspenders, silk ribbons and others. It is said that a greater variety of looms are made in this establishment than in any other the world over. Six hundred skillful workmen are here employed, and invention is ever busy with new time and labor-saving appliances to increase the capacity of the loom or add to the perfection of the fabric, so that new looms are now complete and more econom- ical than old ones. The volume of their business is constantly increasing. These looms are also built abroad on royalty."

Several of the last winters have been spent by Mr. Knowles in Florida, in which State he now owns extensive tracts. He has orange groves-the pride of that sunny land-and large interest in hotel prop- erty, which yields not only a fair income to himself, but affords delightful temporary homes for winter sojourners from the bleak North. But above these temporal matters is the interest he takes in the edu- cational and moral advancement of the people of his Southern home,-an interest especially obvious in his liberality to Rollins College at Winter Park, on which he has bestowed Knowles Hall and a fund for the maintenance of a scholarship for indigent students.

In politics Mr. Knowles has constantly adhered to the principles of the Republican party, and been liberal in his contributions for party ends, though never seeking or desiring official position.

As before intimated, he has been active in religious duties; has adhered to the old Trinitarian Congre- gational faith ; was especially assidnous in the foun- dation of the Pilgrim, the Plymouth and the Pied- mont Churches, and has held the office of deacon in the latter ever since its foundation. Sunday-school

work has especially engaged his attention for many years.

Mr. Knowles has been twice married. His first wife was Ann Eliza Poole, of Gloverville, N. Y., and by her he had one daughter and one son. His sec- ond wife was Hester A. Greene, a daughter of John R. Greene, of Worcester, the union taking place April 23, 1867, and by her he has had two daughters and one son.

JAMES HI. WALL.

James H. Wall was born in Greenville, Leicester, November 28, 1810, son of Caleb and Sarah (Farnum) Wall. His father was a blacksmith, scythe manu- facturer and miller in Greenville from 1799 to 1833, and son of Thomas and Patience ( Arnold) Wall, of Smithfield, R. I. The mother of James H. was a daughter of Moses Farnum, a noted minister of the Society of Friends in Uxbridge, by his second wife, Elizabeth Southwick, of that town. The latter was a direct descendant in the fifth generation from Law- rence and Cassandra Southwick, who were among those driven from Massachusetts by the persecuting Puritans two hundred and thirty years ago for being Quakers. After attending the public schools, which was only about eight weeks in the year, in his native village, and the usual accompanying labors on his father's farm, till he was in his eighteenth year, Mr. Wall, in the spring of 1828, went to learn the shoe- maker's trade with the late Jeremiah Bond, in Pax- ton. In June, 1831, he started business in a small way for himself, doing custom-work in Clappville, now Rochdale. Here he remained till February 19, 1837, when he removed to Worcester,-then a town of seven thousand inhabitants,-and entered the shoe and leather store of the late Benjamin B. Otis, in what was known as Goddard's Row, first as workman and then as salesman and clerk. In the fall of that year he opened a shoe and shoe-findings store in an old wooden building which stood on the site of Grout's Block on Main Street, between Mechanic and Foster Streets. The following spring of 1838 he entered into partnership, in the same business, with the late John P. Southgate, in the old Denny house, which stood on the corner of Main and Mechanic Streets. In the spring of 1840 he sold out his inter- est to his partner, Mr. Southgate, and opened a boot. shoe, trunk and findings store in a building which stood where the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Block is. In 1842 he sold out to C. C. Clapp and S. P. Fitch, who continued there, and Mr. Wall opened a boot and shoe store in Brinley Block, where he was in partnership with the late Edward Southwick for a short time. In 1843 he entered into the real estate business, and December 14th of that year bought, with Edward H. Hemenway and Sam- uel D. Harding, the old Worcester House estate, comprising thirty-three thousand five hundred and forty- eight square feet of land, on the corner of Main,

1700

IIISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Elm and Maple Streets, for fourteen thousand dol- lars, by the subsequent management and sale of which he realized a handsome sum as his portion of the profits, from the advanced valne. In other real estate operations he realized similar proportionate profits by his skillful buying and selling at the right time, from rise in values. He has probably owned a longer frontage on Main Street, in the southerly sec- tion of the city, than any other one person, except when the land was owned and occupied for farming purposes. At various times he has been the owner of nearly fifty acres of land, then vacant, now nearly all built over.

Among the buildings he erected was Lincoln House Block, on the front portion of the old Worcester House estate, and the block of three dwelling-houses on the rear, now owned and occupied by Charles S. Turner, H. H. Bigelow and William H. Morse. Also, he built in 1848 a dwelling-house for his own occupancy on the corner of Main and Benefit Streets, in which he resided till the fall of 1863, and then sold it to George W. Gill, and it is now owned and occupied by the Children's Friend Society, known as the "Orphans' Home."

After forty years' residence in Worcester Mr. Wall in 1877 removed to Boston, where he has since lived, but he has never given up his connection with the First Baptist Church in Worcester, of which he and his wife have been members for nearly fifty years, and he has never relinquished the idea of making Worcester his last dwelling-place, it being the thea-

tre of most of his active business life ; and he now con- siders Worcester his real home and Boston but a tem- porary one. He has never lost his interest in and love for Worcester, among the renewed evidences of which being his recent purchase of the valuable estate called Paine Block. In Boston he has occupied himself in real estate operations in which he has met with sue- cess.

In polities he was a Jackson Democrat on general principles and gave his first vote for Andrew Jackson for President in 1832; but he has since acted with other parties, when, at times, the issues were more in accordance with his views. He was one of the orig- nal Anti-Slavery and Liberty party men, and one of the original "Free Soilers " in 1848; secretary of the first Free Soil County Commitee, and an active worker in that cause from the beginning of the movement. Many of the impromptu "Free-Soil " meetings on the Common, in the campaign of 1848, were got up by him, and addressed by speakers from the east portico of the City Hall.

On the evening of May 18,1887, he gave a compli- mentary banquet at the Lincoln House to his brother, Caleb A. Wall, the veteran journalist of the Worces- ter Spy, in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of his brother's connection with the Worcester County press. This was a meeting of about one hundred and fifty of the oldest and most honored citizens of

Worcester, described in the newspapers at the time as "one of the most remarkable gatherings ever held here ; representing those longest and most closely iden- tified with the varied interests of the city, including men from all walks of life, from the pulpit, the legal and medical professions, the National and State Councils, business, trade and the shops, comprising an array of veterans in experience and the venerable in years never before seen together here."

The following poem, written by Mr. John Howard Jewett, of the Evening Gazette, was read on the occa- sion above referred to :

1837-1887.

DEDICATED TO THE SEMI-CENTENNIAL BANQUET

IN HONOR OF

MR. CALEB A. WALL.

CONFIDENTIAL.

A poem was wanted this banquet to grace ; Most diligent search revealed not a trace

Of Poet in Worcester, hence, this lesser plan-

To farm out the job to a newspaper man. The dailies and weeklies were ready betimes, With scribblers galore, all chock full of rhymes, To suit thie occasion, and thus it befel They all got to wrangling about who should tell

This story tu-night, and to save discontent At last 'twas decided to flip np a cent.

Up went the copper-to the writer's surprise

The lot fell to him-the Gazette won the prize.

And this is the story-a legend in rhyme- Though Pegasus falters, the theme is sublime, Unfolding a record that's writ on Time's Scroll, Indelible there, while the centuries roll.

THE LEGEND.

Old Time, with his hour-glass, while counting the years Of life, with its record of hopes and of fears, Its joys and its sorrows, successes, defeats,

-- The ceaseless old story which History repeats, - Aweary had grown of his task, and to find A trusty and capable "sub " to his mind, Dropped in on the Spy, in its Argus-eyed den, And found our friend Caleb still wielding his pen. " Ah ! Caleb, old fellow, a grip of the hand, Delighted to see you !- The gods minst have planned This fortunate meeting, for me, I'll be blest, I want a vacation ; come, give me a rest, You tireless mortal, just fill in the gap Fur a decade or two, whilst I take a nap. The man of all men, at last I have found ; They'll never enspect that I'm not around, As nsnal, Caleh, for you've got the grip On all that I know, and can give 'em the 'tip.' Long practice has made you expert with the score Of life'e shifting games ;- a few innlogs more Will win yon the title of Time's Referee, The Champion Recorder, Historian per se ; So turn my old hour-glass, your annals complete, I'll snooze !- and George Bancroft can take a back seat."

Now all the old fellows who know Caleb Wall, Must know that he never has shirked duty's call. A kindly eye beams 'neath his gray, grisly locke, His heart, well, bis heart is as big as an ox. Of course he said " Yes," in his good-natured way, And took up Time's burden as if it were play. Time loafed. Caleb toiled in his stead, -- he toils yet,

1707

WORCESTER.

To put upon record what others forget ; To keep the old memories, old placea, old names, Still bright on Time's pages ; to score up the games Dead yesterday saw, side by side, in array With these Worcester plays on the field of To-day.

How faithful his service, all know who can read Where he winnewed the chaff, preserving the seed. With much that's undying hia name will be bleet, For he's used every talent that nature haa lent, To rescue and save from oblivion's clutch, Restore to the living, by magical touch Of his painstaking pen, the treasurea of old, Safe garnered, for others to have and to hold. Nor solely for bread hath he wrought long and well For full fifty years, for love'a charmed apell Hath hallowed his task, and crowned his ripe age With good friends, a good name ; earth's best heritage.

Then, Hip, Hip, Hurrah I no trouble we'll fear, We'll toaat him to-night. He'll embalm ns, 'tis clear, In History'a peges, and hand onr names down To far distant ages. Posterity's crown He will win, in a night, for us one and all -The friends and well-wishers of Caleb A. Wall 1

INCIDENTAL.

Hush ! A word for our host, who gathered us here To honor hia brother, and share his good cheer. We know him of old, as a man among men, Not one of our craft, -but who writes with a pen His name in a check-book, on bond, or on deed, [His autograph pays for this bountiful " feed,"] That's honored for all which the paper implies ; Whose word ia as good aa hia bond, till he dies; Whose history, if written for three-score and ten, Would need a whole volume, and worthier pon. Yet, to point out the moral adoruing thia tale, How honesty, thrift, and good sense will prevail, And yield a rich harvest, this fact we'll relate : Our heat here was born to an indigent state, Bnt made his owe fortune, nor wronged any man, Never hankered for office. Instead, 'twas his plan Of life to keep every promise and word ; Te miod his own business :- And who ever heard Of his failing to do so? That's James H. Wall ! Aa every one know him, who knows him at all.

Long life to the veteran whose busy career Has crowned him successful ; whose life has no fear Of want, or dishonor ; no secrets to hide, Aa ha waits on the shore to go out with the tide.

Then echo, ye walls, to the Walls ye aurround ! " May brotherly love and good cheer still abound ; " Once more then, Hip ! Hip ! Let us fill to the toast " To Caleb and James-Historian and Host !"

WHAT CALEB REMEMBERS.

What Calab remembera? From the feast of the years, Some scraps have been saved, for use it appears At banquets like this. Let us nibble a bit On well-seasoned chestants,-though scanty of wit,- They may yield some food for reflection, or move To smiles, and thus moral digestion improve.

What Caleb remembers, would make quite a atore Of family recipes ; guides to explore The art of right living ; a digeat of Time For atatesmien to chew on, for scribblers to rhyme And wring nutrition :- in a word we might say The Yesterday's viauda warmed up for to-day.

Our Caleb remembers, in life's early morn, Our modern improvements were mostly unbere. In stages, the wealthy, through pasture and wood Went shopping to Boston ; if walking was good

The poor went on foot. How blankly they'd stare At our express trains and our one dollar fare. Or Raymond's Excursions, North, South, East, or West, With Drawing-room, Sleeper, Buffet and the rest!

Onr Caleb remembers the Pony Express Was lightning despatch, in haste or distress, Ere Telegraph Cables encircled the globe. The Telephonel-torture unknown to old Job Or else he'd have weakened, his patience worn ont While pretty girls flirted and left him to shout, -- All these comforts and trials, thia worry and liaste, Are oura, who have life, but no minutes to waste.

Our Caleb remembers, when he learned his trade, Hand presses were modern, the fastest thee made ; Five hundred au hour, and one side at a time ; Despatches by post from a far away clime Meant Albany then while the newa from Bombay, Instead of ten minutes, teo months on the way! Their weekly editions for a year, by hand-power, Could be printed to-day in less than an honr On presses that run the big dailies we read. Ah! how we've outatrip'd those old fogies-in speed.

Our Caleb remembers, finance in those days Was saving and safety, and old-fashioned ways Of honesty, thrift, and to keep best your own ; Net promising hread, to repay with a stone ; Not haste to get riches, to pamper false pride ; But work, alow and sure, earu and save till you died. Stock gambling and Futures, and Corners in food, Reward would have found in Stocks made of wood ; The popular route wasn't Canada then, Nor were places of trust filled by travelling men.

Our Caleb remembers, in matters of State The people concerned were allowed to debate ; To choose from their number the fittest, to send Their cause to uphold, their rights to defend. Sound statesmanship, genins and braies, then controlled The honors, Bonanza kings buy with their gold. The lobby existed, no doubt in those daya, And worked for itaschemes in legitimate ways, For Beverly boodle,-to bring the point home- And cheek to apply it, the day hadn't come ! Men strove with great questions, had courage to face Unpopular issues, nor held it disgrace To stand and be comoted for Right every time. 'Gaiest mob or the "party's " political alima.

Onr Caleb remembers when National tasks Were boree on the shoulders of men without masks ; No coddling, er truckling to socialist mob ; No premature pensions, put up for a job ; No aurplus, maintained by duties imposed For needless protection, and avenuea closed To fair competition, ie cost to produce Nine-tenths of onr needs for consumption and use; No, cry, universal, for some simpler plan To protect fellow-man from laws made by man. "Utopian ?" Possibly ! Mere waste of breath, When statesmen (alleged) legislate us to death !

Our Caleb remembers,-say ! perchance we're raalı To serve you so much of this dubious hash. We'll therefore, omit all such intricate woes As Interstate Commerce, which nobody koows ; Reformed Civil Service, which both parties claim ; The Coinage of Silver, nobody to blame ; The Mormons in Utah ; the poor Indian "Le; " The old bloody shirt, washed in tears long ago ; And divers grave questiona the papers discuss, To make more a muddle, and muddle the muss. The shield has two sides, we'll gladly admit, -The bird flutters most, however, that's hit ;- And, if it will soothe any wounded bird here, We'll own that the prospect improves with each year.

1708

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The reason is plain, manifest beyond doubt, The people ure finding the bl-k rascals out i Just wait a few years until that party wins Which means to Reform, -to reform its own sins !

Our Caleb remembers,-and so does the scribe,- That life is misspent which is all diatribe, And therefore craves pardon, and begs to remind The growlers in this world, a better to find 1 For all who will road Caleb's volume aright Will find that it pays to "keep honor bright." Don't crowd, fellow-mourners ; Be true ; Be n man ; Press forward ; Look backward ; Improve on the plan ! This, then, is the nub we've been trying to berrow : Let yesterday's serve for to-day and to-morrow ! For brotherly greetings, and this friendly call, Our Caleb will kindly remember you all.

September 13, 1831, Mr. Wall was united in mar- riage with Mary Ann, oldest daughter of Benjamin R. and Elizabeth (Davenport) Davis, and she is still living. From this union there were born seven children, four of whom are now living. Two, Mary Ann and Thomas A., died in infancy, and Joseph S. died in 1864, aged nineteen. The oldest, George F., is married, residing in Worcester; Sarah Elizabeth married Sumner W. Balcom, residing in Boston ; James H., Jr., is married, residing in Chicago; and Emma Isabella married Charles S. Connell, residing in New York City.

Among the civil positions which Mr. Wall held during his forty years' residence in Worcester, he was three years in each branch of the City Council ; Com- mon Councilman in 1852, '53 and '58; alderman in 1854, '55 and '56; two years assessor, in 1849 and '59; and he was highway surveyor for the Centre District the last year of the town, 1847-48.

Mr. Wall has always been considered by those who best knew him, and are best qualified to judge, as a careful and conservative man in all his business transactions. He has frequently been called upon as an expert in the valnes of real estate, by city, corpor- ate and private parties.

EDWARD AUGUSTUS GOODNOW.1

Banking and Beneficence are the two words which mark the claim of Edward A. Goodnow to the regard of his fellow-men. As a banker he enjoys the repu- tation of being one of the most eminently successful in New England ; as a giver of large gifts for educa- tional uses his name is a familiar word in schools and colleges at the east and west and south and beyond the sea. Having a talent for making money and a disposition to give it away, he has scattered his heap as fast as it has accumulated and thus refrained from becoming, what he might easily have become, a mill- ionaire. And having no children of his own he has used his wealth for the education of the children of his fellow. men.

Mr. Goodnow was born in the town of Princeton on the 16th of July 1810. Princeton is one of the

noteworthy towns of Massachusetts. Within its borders rises Wachusett mountain, the most elevated, save one, in the commonwealth. From its summit may be seen in the far distance the golden dome of the State House and the Atlantic ocean, while in the near distance almost numberless white villages and shining little lakes nestling among low hills capti- vate the eye, with the populous city of Worcester twelve miles away emphasizing the landscape. Princeton village and farms, clustering around the foot of the mountain, are perhaps at a higher eleva- tion than any other inhabited spot in the state. Because of these natural advantages-the sightly mountain, the salubrious atmosphere, and the nearness to the great cities-Princeton more than fifty years ago began to be a favorite place for summer resort, and with each returning year has been growing in public favor.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 191

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