History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 194

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 194

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Mr. Fobes was born in Oakham, Worcester County, on the 25th of September, 1829, and was a son of Peres and of Melissa Nye Fobes. His early life was, like that of most country youth of the period, one of industry, if not of hardship, or what in these days would be called hardship. His education, gained in the common school, was practical and available, as far as it went, and formed a substantial groundwork for the attainment in after-years, by reading, study and association with people of culture, of all that was necessary for favorable standing in a community like that of busy, progressive and fastiduous Wor- cester.

He remained in his native town till 1846, when he came to Worcester and commenced labor as an apprentice at the provision and marketing business. And that traffic he followed in a subordinate capacity till 1854, at which time he began business on his own account in Front Street. He was remarkably suc- cessful, insomuch that in about twenty years he had accumulated enough to warrant his retirement from active trade. It was in 1875 that he closed his busi- ness in the line that had so carried him on to fortune. He did not, however, then abandon himself to indolent ease, but continued, to some extent, to deal in real estate and live stock; and by shrewd and careful management his means were considerably increased.

Few men are better known in Worcester than Mr. Fobes ; and none are more respected for integrity and trustworthiness. As a citizen he stands conspicnous for liberality both in public and private affairs. His hand is never closed against the appeal of penury ; and every enterprise of a public character that prom- ises benefit to the community at large, finds in him a liberal and a working friend.

Mr. Fobes has not been much in strictly public office, though he has served in both branches of the city government. He was a member of the Common Council in 1879 and '80, and an alderman in 1881 and '82; and his course in these positions was marked by affability, prudence and a conscientious regard for the public interest. His services have, however, been in almost constant requisition in offices of a semi-pub- lic nature; in positions of trust and responsibility, where prudence, ripe judgment and vigilance were primary requisites, such as director in the First National Fire Insurance Company, director in the Safe Deposit Company and in the Street Railway Company.

In religious sentiment Mr. Fobes can hardly be ranked as a sectarian, though his place of worship is of the Trinitarian Congregational order. Theologi- cally, his sentiments are liberal ; practically, his conduct is governed strictly by the moral law. In politics he has steadily adhered to the principles of the Republican party, and, though not a zealous, or rather not a vociferous partisan, has been always ready to contribute his share for the furtherance of the policy he believed most beneficial.

Mr. Fobes was married on the 29th of September, 1870, to Celia Elizabeth Brayton, of Smithfield, R. I., and the fruit of the union was five children, three sons and two daughters, only two of whom, one son and one daughter, are now living.

MATTHEW JOHN WHITTALL.

Mr. Whittall, who is another of those energetic and skillful manufacturers to whom Worcester is so much indebted for her prosperity, was born in Kid- derminster, England, on the 10th of March, 1843. His father's name was Eli and his mother's Eliza. His father, at the time of his birth, was a hand car- pet-weaver.

At the age of fourteen the subject of this sketch began his industrial life in the employ of Messrs. Humphries, carpet manufacturers, at Kidderminster. There, by his industry, dexterity and aptitude, he, within a few years, became assistant superintendent.

At the age of twenty-one he left the Messrs. Hum- phries, and entered the employ of T. B. Worth, car- pet mannfacturer, at Stonrport, as superintendent of his works. There he remained till 1869, when he took a similar position with Messrs. Fawcutt & Spurway.

In the latter part of 1870 he commenced a corre-

Hiram Trobes

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spondence with the late George Crompton, with the view of coming to Worcester to superintend the Crompton Carpet Works. The result of the corre- spondence was that hither he came in May, 1871, and remained with the company until they dissolved, in 1879.

, Mr. Whittall then returned to England and pur- chased machinery for manufacturing Wilton and Brussels carpets. He started business in South Wor- cester with seven looms, in a building owned by the Wicks Manufacturing Company. His business has greatly prospered, insomuch that he has already built two large mills, and is now doing the most ex- tensive business of any individual manufacturer of Wilton and Brussels carpets in the United States.

In his religious connection Mr. Whittall is a mem- ber of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has been an officer in St. Matthew's ever since the edifice was erected, in 1871. The parish was organized in 1874, at which time he was elected a warden. Re- cently he has been elected president of the Episco- palian Club of Worcester.

In political sentiment he is a Republican, quietly giving expression to his views by his vote rather than by noisy demonstration.

Mr. Whittall was married at Stourport, England, October, 1868, to Ellen, youngest daughter of the late Henry Paget. Several children have been born to them, only two of whom are now living-a son and a daughter.

A great deal has of late been said against the in- coming of laborers, artisans and others from foreign lands. But certainly no true statesman would object to any number of incomers were they of the charac- ter and habits of the individual to whom this brief biographical sketch relates. It is hardly reasonable to conclude, after taking a fair review of the indus- trial history of Worcester, that she would have at- tained the proud position she now occupies as a man- ufacturing centre had she not received and encour- aged the location within her borders of some of those from other lands whose careers have been outlined in the present work. And to none, perhaps, is she more indebted than to Mr. Whittall, who, in his par- ticular line of manufacture, presents an exceedingly beautiful and excellent style of goods, which have made not only his own name, but that of Worcester, favorably known throughout the country.

CHARLES B. PRATT.

Hon. Charles B. Pratt is a native of Worcester County, and is one of its best-known citizens.

His early years were marked by toil and hardship. He lacked educational advantages, and was almost without home training; yet, by his native ability and energy, he overcame these early disadvantages, which would have daunted a less determined aud hopeful spirit, and achieved in his mature years not

only business success, but the highest political honors his fellow-citizens could bestow upon him.

Mr. Pratt was born in Lancaster, Mass., February 14, 1824. His parents were very poor, and at the tender age of nine years he left his father's house to make his own way in the world. He worked in a cotton-mill in Fitchburg for three years, and then, impelled by the restlesss spirit of adventure which marked his early years, he went to Rochester, N. Y., where, at the age of thirteen, he bound himself du- ring his minority to learn the moulder's trade. The year following, his attention was called to an exhibi- tion of submarine diving, and, having secured his release from his apprenticeship, he spent the next six years of his life in thoroughly mastering the de- tails of work under water. At the age of twenty, having saved up a large portion of the money that had been paid him in wages, he returned to Worces- ter to finish his trade as moulder at the old Wheeler foundry. Before reaching the age of twenty-one he married Miss Lucy Ann Brewer. This union was a particularly happy one.

No small part of Mr. Pratt's success in life has been due to his happy domestic relations and to the shrewd good sense and clear-headed judgment of his chosen lielp-meet. Seven years later Mr. Pratt went into the submarine business on his own account, and for twenty years followed it with great success, un- dertaking many important and hazardous operations along the Atlantic coast and on the great lakes. He held high rank in his business, and some of his con- tracts were very profitable. In 1871 he retired from the submarine business in order to devote his entire time to his interests in Worcester, which had become large and engrossing.

In December, 1876, Mr. Pratt was nominated by the Democrats for mayor of Worcester. His personal popularity proved a very important factor in the campaign and he was elected over Joseph H. Walker, the regular Republican candidate, though the candi- dates for aldermen on the Walker ticket were elected by handsome majorities. He was re-elected mayor in 1877 and again in 1878,-running on a non-partisan ticket and receiving the support of leading men of both parties. His political opponents could find no fault with his thoroughly successful, husiness-like administration of city affairs, and he enjoyed the entire confidence and good will of the community. During his three years in office he settled all the claims for damages arising out of the breaking away of the Lynde Brook reservoir dam, built the Foster Street extension in accordance with the terms of the legislative act accepted by a former administration, and constructed the great sewer through the ledge from Cambridge Street to Quinsigamond village, thus draining and making valuable a large tract of real estate in the "Island " district. These three items of extraordinary expenditure amounted to over five hundred thousand dollars; yet, all this work was

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accomplished during the three years of Mr. Pratt's administration with a net increase of the city debt of less than fifty thousand dollars, and average net tax rate of less than $14.50 per thousand dollars. Dur- ing Mr. Pratt's administration the shiftless policy that had prevailed in regard to the management of the great funds of the City Hospital was changed, and commissioners were appointed who put into the market the land on the west side left by Mr. Jaques, thus adding largely to the material and taxable wealth of the city. It was also through his persistent efforts that the city finally carried out the conditions of the Jaques bequest, although the actual work of building the hospital was not begnn until he had re- tired from office. Mr. Pratt gave up the mayoralty at the end of his third term in order to be able to give more time to his private business, refusing flattering invitations from representative men of both parties to accept a re-nomination. His success in the office of mayor was due mainly to his excellent business capacity, his sound judgment and his exceptional tact in dealing with men. When he first came into office he found a Board of Aldermen solidly opposed to him in politics, but be ignored entirely partisan considerations in his administration of city affairs and soon had the entire confidence and hearty sup- port of his associates.

In 1883 Mr. Pratt was nominated by the Democrats for State Senator in the city district and was elected, receiving a majority of two hundred and twenty-six votes over the late Judge Dewey, the Republican nominee. This election was another striking proof of Mr. Pratt's popularity, for Judge Dewey's associate candidates for minor offices on the Republican ticket received between four hundred and fifty and five hundred majority in the city. During his term in the Senate, though belonging to the minority party, Mr. Pratt held a prominent and influential place. He was chairman of the Committee on Agriculture, and was active in defeating the project for a division of Worcester County, which was one of the issues be- fore the Legislature that year. He declined a re- nomination to the Legislature.

Mr. Pratt's public career includes service in both branches of the City Council of Worcester, and both branches of the Legislature, and it is a remarkable fact that though not a member of the Republican party, which has always been in the majority in this city, he has never but once been defeated, when a candidate for an elective office before the people. Soon after retiring from the city government he was elected one of the three commissioners to manage the funds of the City Hospital, and also an overseer of the poor, both of which positions he still holds, to the great acceptance of his colleagues and all others with whom his official duties bring him in contact.

Mr. Pratt was for sixteen years president of the Worcester Connty Agricultural Society, and in that capacity had much to do with bringing the exhibitions

of the New England Society, of which he was a trus- tee, to this city, and arranging and managing the details. During the last year of his presidency of the society there was talk of selling the fair-grounds on the west side. In order to bring the land into market, Mr. Pratt suggested the expediency of running horse- car tracks to the grounds. He pushed the scheme with characteristic energy, and uniting with some out-of-town capitalists, organized the Citizens' Street Railway Company, of which he was chosen president Under his management tracks were laid, not only to the West Side, but to South Worcester, Quinsigamond Village and out Grove Street. This was in 1886. The next year the old and new companies united, and Mr. Pratt was made president and general manager of the consolidated company, which position he now holds.

Mr. Pratt has been a leading spirit in the organiza- tion and management of several other well-known Worcester corporations. He was one of the original board of directors of the Worcester Theatre, and was its heaviest stockholder, and for years he has been a director in the Bay State House corporation. He helped to organize the L. W. Pond Machine Company, and is now its president. He has been president of the First National Fire Insurance Company since 1872, and for many years was sole manager of its business. In this way he became well and favorably known to the underwriters of New England. When the insurance companies organized the Worcester Protective Department, which maintains the Fire Patrol, he was made its president, and has held the position by successive re-elections ever since. He has been a director in the First National Bank since its organization, and has been for many years a trustee of the old Worcester Institution for Savings. He is a member of very many secret societies and social organizations. He has attained to the thirty- second degree in Freemasonry, and is a member of the Worcester County Commandery of Knights Tem- plars. He is, besides, a member of various Odd Fellow and Pythian organizations.

Mr. Pratt possesses not only fine business tact and executive ability, which have won for him marked success in all his undertakings, but he has a kindly heart, a cordial greeting and a ready sympathy that have given him a warm place in the affections of his friends. He gives freely in private to worthy objects, but he is not one of those whose charities and bene- factions are ostentatious.

NORCROSS BROTHERS.

James A. Norcross and Orlando W. Norcross. The names and some reference to the businees of this firm cannot well be omitted from any enrollment of our representative men. For nearly twenty years their enterprise and sagacity has been creating for them a place and rank as building contractors held

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by few and surpassed by no others in the United States. If there is such a thing as heredity of a call- ing, these brothers came naturally by their vocation. Their father, Jesse S. Norcross, was a man of remark- able mechanical ability. Their mother, whose maiden- name was Whitney, was a native of Westboro', Mass., Jesse Norcross was kept busy among the woods of Maine, setting up saw-mills. At an early age, how- ever, by the death of their father, the sons were left dependent upon their own resources, and for a time the family were thrown upon the exertions of the eldest of these brothers. From the circumstances of the itinerant calling of the father, James A. Nor- cross was born in Winslow, Me., March 24, 1831, and Orlando W. Norcross in Clinton, in the same State, October 25, 1839. Through early self-dependence the sons found their way to the calling of carpenters and builders, pursuing their trade in the eastern part of this State, starting business together in Swamp- scott, Mass., in 1864, the association and its openings at first affording nothing more than ordinary promise. But the beginnings of success were not far away, for in 1866 the Norcross Brothers were given the con- tract for building the Congregational Church in Lei- cester, an undertaking of most modest proportions in the test of their later business, yet it seems to have proved the golden key of success, and the brothers Norcross still cherish with warmest remembrance the kindness and aid of Leicester friends who gave them their first strong assistance on the highway to fortune. Wor- cester had begun a marked stage of improvements, and the Norcross Brothers found here their oppor- tunity. In the period between 1868-70 they built the Crompton Block on Mechanic Street, the First Universalist Church and the noble Worcester High School building-the latter their first structure of like prominence and cost. A few seasons later they built the beautiful All Saints' Church in this city. Their reputation was by this time established; not the reputation the heedless, lucky man leaves to take care of itself, but one to be cared for and built upon, and so it grew. The story of their work since that time gives them a succession of building triumphs, such as have in like numbers and prominence fallen to few American builders. We leave the mere list to be told most compactly, as shall follow, but no mere enumeration, however rich, can tell the whole story of such success as this-the painstaking skill, the diligence, the strength of will and purpose, that not only make fortunate circumstances, but conquer them, can only be imagined. It was the exceeding good fortune of these brothers to have been, on nota- ble occasions, made associates with the late lamented architect H. H. Richardson, in some of the best work of that grandest of all masters and experts in stone as a material, and their work will stand with his for generations to come as some of the best known in this century. This can be readily noted from the appended list, that gives some of the best and most notable

structures of the time, in all classes for public nses ---- ecclesiastic, educational, memorial. To this end we have given the classification that follows, a noble story of twenty years' work by the Worcester builders, extending through thirteen States and to be summed up in millions of dollars.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS .- Hampden County Court- House, Springfield, Mass., contract 1872, cost $175,- 000; Woburn Library, 1877, $80,000 ; Ames Library, North Easton, Mass., 1877, $36,000; North Easton Town Hall, 1879, $50,000; Crane Memorial Library, Quincy, Mass., 1880, $44,000; Albany City Hall, 1881, $295,000; Allegheny County Court-House and Jail, Pittsburgh, 1885, $2,500,000; Cincinnati Cham- ber of Commerce, 1887, $530,000; Howard Memorial Library, New Orleans, 1887, 898,000; Malden Li- brary, 1885, $90,000.

CLUB HOUSES .- Union League Club House, New York, contract 1879, cost $255,000; Boston Art Club House, 1881, $54,000 ; Algonquin Club House, Boston, 1886, $177,000.

PRIVATE RESIDENCES .- Newport, Annie W. Sher- man, contract 1875, cost 840,000; Boston, Oliver Ames, 1882, $68,000; Boston, C. A. Whittier, 1881, $107,000; Albany, Grange Sard, Jr., 1882, $32,000; New York, Block for Union Theological Seminary, 1883, $60,000; Wellesley, Brownlow Hall, 1883, $60,- 000; Cambridge, A. Agassiz, 1883, $95,000; Wash- ington, D. C., B. H. Warder, 1886, $112,000; Great' Barrington, " Kellogg Terrace," 1885, $600,000 ; Bos- ton, John F. Andrew, 1885, $140,000 ; Boston, C. C. Converse, 1886, $55,000; South Lancaster, John E. Thayer, 1886, $85,000; Chicago, Ill., J. J. Glessner, 1886, 885,000; Dedham, Mass., A. W. Nickerson, 1887, $175,000; Springfield, Ohio, A. S. Bushnell, 1887, $90,000; New York, J. N. A. Griswold, 1888, $48,000.

EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURES. - Worcester High School, contract 1870, cost $120,000 ; Latin High School, Boston, 1878, $170,000; Harvard College Gymnasium, Cambridge, 1878, $91,000; Harvard Col- lege, Sever Hall, 1878, $104,000 ; Harvard College Law School, 1882, $136,000 ; Union Theological Seminary, New York, 1882, $286,000 ; Vermont University, Bur- lington, 1883, 892,000; Lawrenceville School Build- ing, New Jersey, 1883, $320,000; Durfee High School, Fall River, Mass., 1886-87, $200,000; Crouse Memorial College, Syracuse, N. Y., 1888, $220,000; Memorial Building, Yale College, New Haven, 1888, $135,000.

BUSINESS BLOCKS .- Crompton's Block, Worcester, contract 1868, cost $75,000 ; Cheney Block, Hartford, Conn., 1875, 8337,000; Ames Warehouse, Boston, Kingston and Bedford Streets, 1882, $133,000; Tur- ner Building, St. Louis, Mo., 1883, $208,000 ; Mar- shall Field Building, Chicago, Ill., 1885, $900,000; New York Life Insurance Building, Omaha, Neb., 1887, $525,000; New York Life Insurance Company Building, Kansas City, Mo., 1887, $520,000 ; Burnside

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Building, Worcester, 1886, $92,000 ; Lionberger Build- ing, St. Louis, Mo., 1888, $275,000 ; Fiske Building, Boston, 1887, $350,000; State Street Exchange, Bos- ton, 1889, $1,410,500 ; Ames Store Building, Essex and Lincoln Streets, Boston, 1889, $192,000.

CHURCHES .- Congregational Church, Leicester, con- tract 1866, cost $30,000; Congregational Church, South Adams, 1867, $20,000; First Universalist Church, Worcester, 1870, $30,000; South Congregational Church, Springfield, Mass., 1870, $150,000; Trinity Church, Boston, 1873, $390,000; Norwich Congrega- tional Church, 1873, 890,000; All Saints' Church, Worcester, 1875, $95,700 ; Trinity Church Parsonage, Boston, 1879, $28,000; Winthrop Congregational Church, Holbrook, 1879, $22,000 ; Grace Church, New Bedford, 1880, $40,000 ; Presbyterian Church, Albany, New York, 1882, $80,000; First Spiritual Temple, Boston, 1883, $120,000 ; St. James' Episcopal Church, New York, 1883, $130,000; Newton Baptist Church, Newton, 1885, 843,000 ; Holy Trinity Church, New York, 1888, $185,000.

RAILROAD STATIONS .- Station at South Framing- ham for Boston and Albany Railroad, contract 1885, cost $48,000; station at Springfield, Mass., for Boston and Albany Railroad, 1888, $375,000; station at Hartford, Conn., for New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, 1888, $200,000.

Norcross Brothers also built the Ames Memorial Monument at Sherman, Wyoming Ter., at a cost of $62,000. It has medallions of Oakes A. and Oliver Ames on either side, cut on the solid stone, sixteen times life-size. This monument is situated on the highest elevation of the Rocky Mountains that is crossed by the Union Pacific Railroad, and commands an extensive view from this road.

The Norcross Brothers have filled a very important line of building construction, in railroad structures of the best and most permanent class, represented in the new passenger station on the Boston and Albany, Old Colony and other railroads. These contracts have been executed in the best of all known building ma- terials, but very largely, in the case of some of the more notable structures, of the beautiful, compact and grainless Longmeadow Brownstone, which was comparatively unknown when they began to employ it about 1873. It is a material massive and not laminated, and hence free from splitting and exploita- tion. Another material, a favorite with them and their patrons, is what they term the Worcester granite, the fine pink-tinted stone from their quarries in Milford, in this county. Of this last material are being built the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce and the immense structure the Court-House and Jail at Pittsburgh. The contracts of the brothers Norcross, in many instances, are such as the skillful architect best loves, an all-including affair that gives the fin- ished building, complete. To this end no small share of their skill has been devoted to workmen and

machinery that give to the interiors their own im- press of perfection.

Some of the carved wood-work from their shops has been the envy of connoisseurs. Theirs has been the art to summon to their aid the best forms of art in every department of architectural achievement and finish.

A word as to the personnel of the two brothers, both in the prime of active life. James A. married at the age of twenty-one, his wife being Mary Ellen Pinkham, of Peabody, Mass., emineutly well-fitted for her share in the sacred contract. Nine children have blessed their union, six of whom-four sons and two daughters-are now living. Mr. Norcross takes a lively interest in the affairs of the day, and is, as is his brother, a strict and consistent friend of temper- ance. He was a member of the City Council in 1877.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 194

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