History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 193

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 193

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Walker came to Worcester in the spring of 1834. He had learned the trade of a blacksmith in New Salem, and followed it for a year or two at West

Beryj Matter

Cathrin, roller

1713

WORCESTER.

Boylston. But this great stage centre offered a bet- ter opening for his business than did the smaller towns, and establishing himself on Columbia (now Exchange) Street, he set to work to hammer out the foundation of the competency which he was to leave to his family. He was six feet of stature, with a strong frame and a face in which amiability and strength of character were commingled. An inti- mate friend of Mr. Walker's, his neighbor in business for several years, says that he seemed from the first to be guided hy a determination to meet all his obli- gations ; he believed in work and always earned his breakfast before he ate it.

The last forty years of Mr. Walker's life were spent in a pleasant and remunerative business, which gave him sufficient leisure to attend to duties which his fellow-citizens imposed upon him. About the year 1848 Dr. Benjamin F. Heywood introduced into Worcester the system of supplying private families and hotels with the Inxury of ice, obtaining his sup- ply from the pure source of Lincoln's Pond, imme- diately west of the present residence of P. L. Moen, Esq. Two or three years later Mr. Walker and the late Stillman S. Sweetser purchased the outfit and rights of Dr. Heywood, secured the right to cut ice from the larger pond of Mr. Salisbury, and for several years occupied the field without competition. Mr. Sweetser retired after some years. Later Mr. L. G. White, son-in-law of Mr. Walker, was taken as a partner, and Coes' Reservoir was secured for an additional and purer supply of what is regarded no longer as a luxury, but as one of the necessaries of life.

Mr. Walker's innate sound judgment was of great service to himself and to the community. It led him to make some excellent investments in real estate, and he was often called upon as an expert in the ap- praisal of property. The Worcester County Institu- tion for Savings, of which he was for twenty-one years a trustee, called him to serve on its Board of Investment; and on the creation of the commission to manage the trust funds of the Jaques Hospital he was appointed a member, serving in that capacity until his death, and as chairman for the last eight years. He was a director in the Worcester Safe De- posit and Trust Company from its organization, in 1868. He served as city assessor for three years, was a member of the Common Council in 1852 and of the Board ot Aldermen in 1854, 1862, 1881 and 1882. He was a zealous member of the Worcester County Mechanics' Association ; and a fellow-member has declared, since his death, that " to him the association owed more than to any other man for sustaining it in the time of its financial peril and weakness."

Mr. Walker, who, as we have seen, was the great- grandson of one of the most prominent of the origi- nal proprietors of the town, married, in November, 1837, Charlotte, daughter of Nathaniel Eaton aud great-granddaughter of that Adonijah Rice who was

the first white child born in Worcester. Mrs. Walker survives, with their two children-Charlotte E., wife of Elisha D. Buffington, and Agnes Lee, wife of Levis G. White. The daughter of the last- named couple, Helen Agnes White, is the direct descendant, in the sixth generation, from Lieutenant Henry Lee and Adonijah Rice.

CALVIN FOSTER.1

Calvin Foster was the architect of his own fortunes. He had no ancestry to boast of, and no one to help him so much as he helped himself. He was born in the early part of the century on Court Hill in a house which stood where now stands the First Unita- rian Church. Worcester was then a village of about twenty-five hundred inhabitants. On Court Hill stood the old court-house, the house in which Isaiah Thomas was then living and the printing-office from which every week he issued the Massachusetts Spy. In the Square below, on its south side, stood the old stone jail fronting the Salisbury mansion on the north side. Just around the corner in Summer street stood the small frame school-house where Calvin Foster learned his first lessons. In the midst of these sur- roundings he passed his early years. Living, as he did, hard by the court-house, it was one of his child- ish pleasures to watch the court officials as they passed in and out. Especially impressed on his memory was the figure of General Ward the Sheriff, as clad in official blue and buff and breeches and cocked hat and sword he escorted the Judges to and from the court-house. When past the age of seven he went as an inmate of his father's family to reside in Rutland, and afterwards alone to live in Barre. In the latter place he remained until the age of six- teen when he returned to Worcester. While on a visit to a relative in that place, he looked about for employment which he soon found in the store of Caleb Newcomb then standing on what is now Har- rington corner. Mr. Newcomb was a manufacturer of tinware and a dealer in stoves hardware and metals. The parental consent having first been ob- tained, Calvin engaged himself as an apprentice to this business. His time was divided between bench- work in the shop and selling goods in the store. At the former part of his duties he proved to be less apt than at the latter. " Calvin," said his employer, "you're a better salesman than mechanic " and so kept him chiefly in the store. He however learned enough of the mechanical part of the business to furnish him with a practical knowledge of the class of goods which was afterwards to be the basis of his fortune. In this situation he remained until after his majority when he went to Fitchburg and bought an interest in the hardware business of Horace New- ton. This was in September 1834. Remaining nn-

J By Chas. E. Stevens.

108

1711

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

til the next April he then sold his interest and re- turned to Worcester. Meantime he had attracted the favorable regard of Col. Ivers Phillips who man- ifested his interest by appointing Mr. Foster on his staff as adjutant of the " (light infantry ) regiment in the second brigade and sixth division of the militia of the commonwealth." This appointment, so flat- tering to a young man, was accepted by him and confirmed by a commission from Gov. John Davis. The old compulsory militia system had just before given place to the volunteer system and the young adjutant was one of the officers who assisted at its inauguration. His first muster-field was in Leomin- ster where he formed his first regimental line. A restive horse by rearing and plunging severely tested his nerve in the face of his troops ; and while be was in the air a private stepped forward to seize the bri- dle and bring him to earth. But Adjutant Foster declined the proffered aid and conquered the misbe- having steed for himself. Having made proof of his military efficiency he was, in the following year, 1835, elected major of the same regiment; in 1837 its lieutenant-colonel, and a year or two later its colonel. His next muster-fields were successively in Prince- ton, Westminster and Sterling. Before occasion arose for acting under his commission as colonel he had obtained his discharge and brought this military episode to an end.

Several years before, he had resumed bis old place in the establishment of Mr. Newcomb. Continuing in it as clerk until 1840 he then bought ont his em- ployer and formed a partnership with Amos Brown under the name of C. Foster & Co. At the end of two years Lemuel I. Fox was added to the firm. In 1848 the death of both partners opened the way for Augustus Whitman who came in as one of the company in the following year. The accession of David Whitcomb in 1855 was followed at the end of two years by the purchase of Whitman's interest. Through all these years and with all these partners the firm name continued unchanged and so remained until Mr. Foster himself retired. In 1836 the busi- ness had been removed from Harrington corner to a frame building on the corner of Main and Pearl streets. This building was of two stories and of the same length as the fine brick and iron block by which it was superseded. It had been erected by Hon. Charles Allen about the year 1825 and occu- pied by Daniel G. Wheeler & Co. as the first ex- clusive dry-goods store in Worcester. The new block was erected by Col. Foster in 1854 and first occupied by bis firm for the hardware business in March 1855. The front was constructed of iron from flagstone to roof finely relieved in each story by columns of the Corinthian order and noteworthy as being the first iron front in New England. Before commencing the building Col. Foster had conceived the idea of a new bank with a part of the new block for a banking- house. The scheme met with the warm approval of

friends whom he consulted. With characteristic promptness he at once proceeded to obtain subscrip- tions to the stock and had $75,000 on his paper before beginning to build. With some aid from others the subscription was increased to $300,000 which was the amount of capital proposed. A petition for a char- ter was now prepared and presented to the legisla- ture. Quite unexpectedly, the committee to which it was referred came to the point of making an ad- verse report. Worcester, it was said, did not need another bank. An intimation of what was impend- ing reached the ears of Col. Foster before the report was made. Without loss of time he called a trusty person to his aid and set him at work to collect and classify all the statistics of the various branches of business and of the mechanical and manufacturing industries of Worcester. In two weeks the work was done and laid before the untoward committee. This brought the charter with a capital of $200,000. Though less than asked for, the amount was accepted to be afterwards increased to $400,000. The new bank, named the City Bank, was first opened for business in September 1854 on Harrington corner where it remained till the January following when it was removed to the new building, by that time com- pleted, on the Pearl street corner. The organization of the corporation was effected in the law office of Henry Chapin on Foster street. A list of directors made out by Col. Foster was duly elected. The ques- tion then came up, who should be the President of the bank? Several named Colonel Foster ; and there was no doubt that he could have been elected had he desired. But he refused the honor and steadily remained content with the office of director. Once launched, the bank had a career of prosperity for many years; and then, by the wrong-doing of one, fell into mishaps. From hav- ing paid ten per cent. dividends it fell to passing its dividends. Then it became clear that the man to put at the helm was the man to whom the bank owed its origin. Accordingly, Col. Foster was made Presi- dent and the management placed in his hands. The good effects of this course soon began to appear. Payment of normal dividends was resumed, and in no very long time the surplus had risen from $53,000 to $170,000. And this was largely the result of a new and distinct line of policy proposed by the new Pres- ident. He believed in going west for loans. His experience as a hardware merchant had let him into this secret. His associates came round to bis point of view and a maximum of profits with a minimum of losses amply justified the policy. In all this it is not intended to under-estimate the important share which the board had in restoring the prosperity of the bank. No one could be more forward than Col. Foster to recognize their claims in that respect or less forward to assert his own.

Besides the City Bank, Col. Foster had a prominent part in the organization and administration of various

1715

WORCESTER.

other corporations. Of the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Company he was one of the projectors and the first to procure subscriptions to the stock; head- ing the petition also for a charter. The primary de- sign of this institution was to relieve the bank vaults which had become inconveniently crowded with the private boxes of depositors. When this was found to be unprofitable the charter was enlarged so as to make it, a bank of discount also. The People's Sav- ings Bank was another monetary corporation which he helped to organize, although at the time a trustee of the Worcester County Institution for Savings. When, some time after, a law was passed that no per- son should hold any office in two Savings banks at ' the same time, Col. Foster elected to remain with the one of which, if not the father, he was at least the foster-father. This, though the youngest of all the Worcester savings banks, has outstripped all except the oldest. From the beginning Col. Foster was one of its vice-presidents and one of the board of invest- ment. Still another concern of which he was one of the originators was the Bay State Fire Insurance Company. It was the second stock company of the kind in Worcester. Unfortunately, the great Boston fire came before it was in a condition to resist that tremendous onset, and like many others it went down.

With the railroad system of Worcester Col. Foster identified himself from the first. The Nashua, Nor-" wich and Providence roads all felt the benefit of his aid. But his sympathies and efforts were chiefly de- voted to the Gardner road. To retain the northern trade of the city and to prevent the division of the county were the two objects which he proposed to accomplish by this enterprise. In the lead were Levi Heywood, Stephen Salisbury, Calvin Foster and Ivers Phillips. But the building of the road proved to be a hard job. The subscriptions went on slowly. Col. Phillips, who had been enlisted to work up the enter- prise, after awhile became disheartened and declared he had a mind to give up the business. But Col. Foster kept him in heart, put him in the way of get- ting subscribers, and staid by until the road was built. It is the testimony of a fellow-director that Calvin Foster did more for the road than any other man in Worcester. He became one of its directors and also one of the executive committee and so re- mained as long as the road retained an independent existence. At one time he was elected President of the road, but this position he absolutely declined.

When Worcester became a city in 1848, he was elected a member of its first common council, Gover- nor Lincoln being the first mayor. He thus had a hand in shaping and giving character to the new or- ganization. Two or three years after, under the may- oralty of Isaac Davis, he was elected upon the board of aldermen. During this period of his connection with the city government Edward Everett came to the city to repeat his oration on Washington. A re-

ception was tendered to him by the city government, and it fell to the lot of Col. Foster as one of the re- ception committee to express the words of welcome to Mr. Everett. This for the first time brought him into personal relations with the commander in chief from whom in early life he had received one of his military commissions. Gov. Everett was affable and Col. Foster greatly enjoyed his conversation. It all ministered to a desire which he habitually cherished of seeing and hearing and, if it might be, conversing with persons of distinction. On going to reside in Fitchburg he had met and made the acquaintance of Gov. Everett's brother, Alexander H. Everett, who invited him to his house and loaned him books from his library. In his youth he had been wont to spend his leisure hours in the court room for the purpose of gratifying this landable curiosity. In this way he had the rare good fortune, as he esteemed it, of see . ing and hearing Daniel Webster at the bar. Many years after, he met Mr. Webster as a fellow traveller on the same steamer. The two being alone in the saloon, Mr. Webster accosted him and a conversation ensued. In the course of it Col. Foster told of hav- ing seen him at the Worcester bar. " And how did I look," quoth Mr. Webster. "Tall and thin, with long arms and a big head," responded the Colonel. Mr. Webster laughed, became companionable and when the journey was continued by rail they took the same seat together and on arriving at Springfield Mr. Webster invited his companion to a seat beside him at table, although in the course of the journey he had been joined by a personal friend. That Col. Foster should have treasured up in his memory this incident is not surprising in view of the hero-worship which Daniel Webster called forth from every New Englander.

It has often been said that out of every hundred men engaged in business ninety-five sooner or later "fail." Never at any time in the course of a busi- ness career extending over half a century was Calvin Foster numbered among the ninety-five.

The domestic relations of Col. Foster were a source of happiness to himself never interrupted except by death. Of his remoter ancestors he knew but little. His grandmother he had seen, and he paid her the homage of saying that "she was the handsomest woman he had ever beheld." His mother was pro- vided with a home and tenderly cared for by him for more than thirty years and until her decease. He was three times married but outlived every wife. Of five children born to him two survive. The educa- tion that he had always felt the need of for himself he provided for them with all ample appliances and means. Nephews and nieces also were made to share in such educational provisions.

When this sketch was written Colonel Foster was living in the enjoyment of a serene old age and in the assiduous discharge of daily duty as President of the Bank of which he had been the founder.

1710

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

WILLIAM T. MERRIFIELD.

William Trowbridge Merrifield, manufacturer, con- tractor and builder, son of the late Deacon Alpheus Merrifield, was born at Worcester, April 10, 1807, and being connected on the maternal side with the Rice brothers, becomes identified with the earliest perma- nent settlers of his native town. He worked on his father's farm until the age of fifteen, the last two years of which doing his full share of labor on a farm of eighty acres; here he laid the foundation of a rare physical development. During the winter school-days he enjoyed the advantages of the district school. At the age of fifteen he began a six years' service as an apprentice at the carpenter trade. At the age of eighteen he was entrusted with the erec- tion of several buildings, and soon after attaining his majority he erected a block of honses, a store and a mill. In 1830 he began his career as a builder, and soon became a prominent and leading contractor of that day. In 1832 he also included a general lumber business. In 1840, Mr. Merrifield put in operation one of the first, if not the first, stcam-engines in Worcester, and added the manufacture of sash, doors, blinds and builders' finish, introducing into Worces- ter the first power planer. Two years later he erected at Princeton a steam saw-mill, and, so far as is known, this was the first engine set up in the woods for the manufacture of lumber. In 1844, Mr. Merrifield took the contract for building the Lancaster and Coach Lace Mills at Clinton, which, with the eighty dwelling- houses, and other buildings, covered several acres of ground; this being before the days of railroads, he employed fifty teams to transport the necessary build- ing material. The contract price exceeded three hundred thousand dollars, a notable outlay at that day, and from this beginning the industrial develop- ment of Clinton dates. In 1848, Mr. Merrifield realized theadvantages in making Worcester a leading mechanical centre, and with a large investment laid the corner-stone of her material growth and indus- trial progress. In those experimental days of indns- trial transition, the inventors and mechanics needed power and rooms, that they might perfect their vari- ous specialties. Mr. Merrifield furnished these at an all important era in the history of Worcester; he erected a series of buildings, exceeding one thousand two hundred feet in length, forty feet in width and four stories high, with over one and a half miles of main shafting, turned by a steam-engine of five hun- dred horse-power, and suitably dividing the buildings to meet the mechanical needs of Worcester at that day, and rented the same to fifty individuals and firms, many of whom now have world-wide reputa- tions. New industries were immediately developed in these buildings, and Worcester, mechanically, was greatly expanded. From this point of beginning dates the energizing impetus which gave her the possibili- ties that have made her what she is. In 1854 these buildings were burned, and immediately re-built,

substantially as before, and devoted to the same gen- cral purposes. Mr. Merrifield has always retained his natural love for agriculture and horticulture ; upon his farm of one hundred and thirty acres he has a herd of high-grade Jerseys, having been a breeder of valuable stock for over fifty years. For twenty-five years or more he has been a prominent exhibitor at the annual fair of Worcester County Agricultural Society ; for many years was president of the Worcester County Horticul- tural Society which made large drafts upon his green- houses at their annual exhibitions ; his contributions of rare exotics and specimen plants added much to the society's success. In both of these honored societies he has rendered valuable aid in educating public taste to a higher level of appreciated merit. He has heen a member of both branches of the city govern- ment of Worcester. In 1856 and '57 he was a member of the Legislature ; he held for ten years the office of trustee of the State Lunatic Hospital, and was made a director of the Mechanics' Bank on its organization, which office he held for ten years ; he was for some time president of the Worcester Mechanics' Associa- tion, also for ten years director in the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company. In 1836 he was one of the first members that organized the Union Church in Worcester, and has ever since been a con- stant attendant. He has been married twice. On the 27th of April, 1830, he married Margaret, daughter of the late Jabez Brigham, of Worcester. William F. and Henry K. are the surviving children of this marriage. On March 9, 1847, he married Maria C., daughter of the late Captain Charles Brigham, of Brigham Hill, Grafton. One daughter survives, Har- riet, wife of Hon. W. T. Forbes, of Westboro'. In com- mon with all marked men, who have been pioneers in shaping the material growth and prosperity of a com- munity, Mr. Merrifield has those sturdy characteris- tics which clearly define a strong individuality-self- reliance and even temper under the severest exigen- cies, a uniform courteous bearing. Kindness of speech, tenacity of purpose, courageous in action, and uncon- querable by discouragements, are some of the more pronounced traits of character on which Mr. Merri- field has built a symmetrical manhood of substantial moral worth-a clear type of a sturdy, self-made, New England character, which took deep root in the early years of the century.

PHINEHAS BALL.

Mr. Ball is a native of Boylston, Mass., and was born on the 18th of January, 1824. He was a son of Manassah Ball, who was the youngest son of Elijah Ball. His mother was Clarissa Andrews, and is still living, at the advanced age of eighty-six years. His father and grandfather were well-to-do farmers, and the farm which they owned is still in possession of the family. His education was such as the district school afforded, supplemented by a course of instruc-

Phinehas Ball

1718

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

HIRAM FOBES.

The best criterion by which to judge of a man is the general reputation he sustains in the community where he is best known. No one whose good qualities do not predominate will be the subject of popular commendation, the conclusion of the community being a sort of digested summary, which is not much affected by individual opinions that may be founded on personal likes and dislikes. Now, judging by this criterion, it is certainly safe to say that the subject of this sketch will not suffer. It would not do to say of any one that he is without blemishes, as that would be making him more than human. The wise his- torian, Hume, after speaking in the highest terms of King Alfred, significantly adds, " . we wish to see him delineated in more lively [life-like] colors and with more particular strokes, that we might at least perceive some of those small specks and blem- ishes from which, as a man, it is impossible he could be entirely exempted." No one, better than the writer of biographical sketches like those in the present volume, can realize how prone we are to view a character from one particular standpoint ; in other words, to illumine the whole by radiations from one prominent trait. Perhaps the Old Testament furnishes some of the most truthful models for biographical sketches that can be found. But it would require no small degree of boldness to follow those models in many cases that occur among us. But this may seem a little overcharged as the introduction of a notice of one who makes no pretension to expand above the common condition of life.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 193

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