History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 195

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 195

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Orlando W. Norcross, at the call of the country in the War of the Rebellion, enlisted in the Fourteenth Massachusetts Infantry, which became the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. He was in the ser- vice for three years. In May, 1870, he married Ellen P. Sibley, of Salem, Mass. The children resulting from this marriage have been two sons and three daughters, the daughters only living. In wide and deserved recognition of his skill as a building expert, he was a member of the notable commission set to investigate the condition of the Federal Building, Post-Office and United States Courts at Chicago, Ill., a most difficult and delicate task, which will long be remembered in building annals with the fact that no suggestion or finding of this commission has failed to be sustained by subsequent events.

LORING COES.

Perhaps no class have so greatly added to the pros- perity and extended the fame of Worcester as her inventors, her ingenious and skilled mechanics. True, she has had the honor of reckoning among her residents, during all periods of her history, men of renown as statesmen, jurists, historians and savants, in all departments of mental culture. But it may be questioned whether all of them have done so much for the general good of the community as the mechauical class just alluded to. Any one who takes an observant round among the huge manufactories that give a busy air to almost every neighborhood cannot fail to be impressed with the idea that more and deeper thought must have been expended in perfecting some of the subtile machinery than could ever have been applied to the production of many a great book, the elaboration of many a great political scheme or the elucidation of many a great philosophical prob- lem.

In the present volume appear the portraits of a number of those who have done good work for Wor- cester and not in a small degree added to her fame. And these portraits are accompanied by biographical

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sketches, which, in several instances, exhibited a remarkable upward growth in individuals from native indigence to wealth and social distinction. They are all worthy of being had in remembrance, and will be so held from generation to generation, until respect for benefactors becomes a lost virtue. Among them will long stand conspicuous the name that appears at the head of this sketch.

Daniel Coes, the father of Loring Coes, was a farmer in the outlying district now known as New Worcester. Like most of the farmers in this vicinity during the first part of the present century, he was compelled to labor hard for little more than a bare subsistence, and hence was obliged to have all the assistance that his son could render, up to the age of fourteen ; the opportunity which winter vacations from farm-work afforded was gladly taken by young Coes for attendandance on school; 1 and thus was laid the foundation for a subsequent superstructure of self-education, which ultimately proved of the most practical and useful kind.

Loring Coes was born in Worcester on the 22d of April, 1812, and consequently has now reached some- thing more than the " common age of man " in his life's journey. On the 14th of January, 1834, he

1 The writer has had occasion io more than one instance, while speak- ing of an enterprising and successful individual, to remark that bis education was procured in the commoo district school. It is alwaye interesting, while reading of a person, to have some information re- gerding his early educational opportunities. But something more is involved in the present case, namely, the value of those elementary in- stitutions themselves. What New England would have become had not the early settlers taken anxious care in establishing and fostering a system for the universal instruction of her youth, it is useless to inquire. Whet she did do has merited and received genuine and unstinted praise among the thoughtful and wise. Religion, undoubtedly, was upper- most in the thoughts of our ancestors, and they looked upon learning as her hand-maid, a fact which accounts for so much pains being taken to instruct in the dead languages as well as in the elements required for commou business transactions. The various grades of common schools knowu at the present day could not, of course, at first he established. The legislative enactment of 1647 commences: "It being one chief proiect of yt ould deludor, Satan, to keepe men from the knowledge of ye Scripture, as in former times, by keeping them in an nuknown tongue, so in these latter times, by persuading from ye use of tongnes, yt go at least ye true sence and meaning of ye originall might be cloud- ed hy false glosses of saintseeming deceivers, yt learning may not be buried in ye grave of our fathers in ye church and commonwealth, yo Lord assisting our endeavors : It is therefore ordered yt every towneship in this jurisdiction after ye Lord hath increased them to ye number of 50 householders shall then forthwith appoint one within their towne to teach all such children as ehall resort to him, to write and reade," &c. ... "And it is further ordered, yt where any towne shall increase to ye unmber of 100 families, or householders, they shall set up a grammar schoole, ye master thereof being able to instruct yonth so farr ao they may be fitted for ye university, provided yt if any towne neglect ye per- formance hereof alove one yeare, then every euch towne shall pay £5 to ye next schoole till they shall perform this order." Tu 1654 the court prohibited the teaching of schools by persons of "nusound doc trine." All this is sufficient to show how intimate our fathers consid- ered the connection between religion and learning. But about "un- sound doctrine," who, in this progressive age, would undertake to de- termine what that is? But whatever may be said for or against the common-school system, established so long ago, and continued ou with modifications to this, our day, none can doubt its inestimable value. Observation need not be extended beyond Worcester itself for count- less examples of its beneficial effects.

was united in marriage with Miss Harriet N. R. Read, daughter of Russell Read, of Attleborough, Mass., and by her has had four children, two of whom are now living-Ellen S., wife of M. O. Whittier, and Chester E. B. Frank L. R., the eldest child, married Persis J. Putnam and died in 1871, leaving one son, Frank Loring. A fourth child, Annie R., died in infancy.

But the business relations of Mr. Coes form that part of his history in which this busy community would probably feel most interested, and, ou the whole, would perhaps be the most appropriate in the present connection. As intimated, his first work was upon the farm of his father ; then, bidding adieu to home, for some ten years, or from the age of fourteen, he worked at carpentering in Worcester and in Lei- cester. Then, in 1836, in partnership with his bro- ther, Aura G. Coes, he began the manufacture of woolen machinery, and built up a very satisfactory trade. Two years after, however, they lost their en- tire outfit of machinery and tools by fire, a calamity which, added to the general depression which still prevailed as a lingering effect of the commercially disastrous year 1837, they were compelled to give up their hopeful anticipations and retire from a busi- ness exclusively their own. They went to Springfield, Mass., and began the manufacture of tools, hiring a portion of the Laurin Trask factory, and it was there that their inventive genius resulted in lasting benefit. While there they-for the brothers seem both to have been gifted with great mechanical in- genuity-invented that useful implement now every- where known as the "screw-wrench," and for which they obtained a patent in 1841. They had returned to Worcester in 1840, and now set up in that town the manufacture of wrenches, whichi presently became a very lucrative business. In addition to the manufac- ture of wrenches they subsequently established a large factory for the manufacture of hay-cutters and shear-blades. The brothers dissolved partoership in 1869. A. G. Coes died, as the result of an accident, in 1875, but his sons continued the separate business commenced by him until 1888. After the dissolution of the partnership Loring Coes built the extensive factory at Coes Square, and took into partnership his son-in-law, Melvin O. Whittier, who continued with him until 1886. In 1888 the interests of Lor- ing Coes and of the sons of his deceased brother in the wrench business were united, and incorporated under the name of the " Worcester Wrench, Com- pany." The Coes screw-wrenches were patented in 1841, 1875 and 1876. They have a world-wide repu- tation, and the sale must be immense. The factory buildings are pleasantly located on the margin of the picturesque sheet of water known as "Coes' Pond," which furnishes a part of the needed power. The buildings are extensive, and it is one of the busiest places in ever-busy Worcester.

It can hardly be supposed that one whose mature

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

life has been so filled with private business operations on so large a scale could spare much time for the pub- lic service. Yet Mr. Coes has done well his part. For several years he served as a member of the Board of Aldermen and of the Common Council. He has been a Representative in the General Court for two terms, and his financial ability has been in requisition as a director in the City National Bank for more than thirty years, and he has honorably filled many other positions of trust and responsibility.

CHARLES H. MORGAN.

Charles Hill Morgan, an eminent mechanical en- gineer, has, for more than a quarter of a century, been prominent in the industry of wire-rod rolling and drawing in America. For the greater part of this time he was general superintendent of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, thus having been identified with the development of probably the largest wire manufacturing establishment in the world.

The Morgan family in the United States are descended from the three brothers, James, John and Miles, natives of Wales, who in 1636 came to Boston.

James settled in Connecticut, John in Virginia, and Miles joined the party that, under the lead of William Pynchon, settled Springfield. The descend- ants of the three brothers are numerous, and have a proud history in the various fields of commerce, mining, manufacturing, warfare, politics and law.

Charles Hill Morgan is a direct descendant in the eighth generation of Miles Morgan. He was born January 8, 1831, at Rochester, N. Y. His father, Hiram Morgan, was a mechanic in wood-working. His mother-Clarissa Lucina Rich, daughter of Dr. Noah Rich, of Penfield, N. Y .- was a woman of su- perior ability and force of character. Hiram Morgan moved to Michigan, and, finding the climate unfa- voralle, returned to Massachusetts and settled in Clinton. The advantages his son Charles had were such as the common schools fifty years ago afforded. His best schooling was at Lancaster Academy, under the charge of Isaac Woods.

When fifteen he began to learn his trade in the machine-shop of his uncle, J. B. Parker, builder of machinery for Bigelow Bros., the founders of manu- facturing in Clinton. Mr. Morgan became interested in mechanical drawing, and requested John C. Head- ley, the civil engineer of the Clinton Mills, to give him lessons in mechanical drawing. Mr. Hoadley, though a busy man, engaged in large enterprises, kindly received and granted the request. Those thirteen lessons did more than any one thing for Mr. Morgan. Mr. E. B. Bigelow, knowing of these les- sons, encouraged Mr. Morgan and loaned him me- chanical books from his private library.

In 1852, when twenty-one, Mr. Morgan was put in

charge of the Clinton Mills dye-house. He devoted himself to the study of chemistry with great zeal, and filled his new position with entire success, and gained valuable experience in the management of subordi- nates.

The same year he was married to Harriet T. Plymp- ton, of Shrewsbury. Their children were C. Henry and Hiram Plympton. The latter died in infancy.

For a time Mr. Morgan was draughtsman for the Lawrence Machine Company. Later, from 1855 to 1860, he was mechanical draughtsman for the distin- guished inventor and manufacturer, Erastus B. Bige- low. In association with him and Charles H. Wa- ters, the agent of the Clinton Wire-Cloth Mills, Mr. Morgan gained an invaluable experience and may be said to have been trained in a hive of invention.

Mr. Morgan introduced a system of designing and constructing cam curves for looms. This system proved of great value and was later the subject of a valuable paper read before the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and subsequently published by Mr. Morgan in pamphlet form.

In 1860 Mr. Morgan joined his brother, Francis Henry Morgan, in Philadelphia, and was for two years engaged in the manufacture of paper-bags. Mrs. Morgan died in 1862, and in 1863 Mr. Morgan was married to Miss Rebecca Beagary, of Philadel- phia. Their children are: Harriet, Charlotte, Paul and Ralph.

In 1864 Hon. Ichabod Washburn was in need of a superintendent fer his works for the manufacture of wire at Worcester, Mass. His friends at Clinton, en- gaged in the manufacture of machinery and wire- cloth, warmly recommended Mr. Morgan. Mr. Washburn accordingly engaged Mr. Morgan as super- intendent of manufacturing for the firm of Wash- burn & Moen. Four years later, when a joint-stock company was organized and incorporated under the name of the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Com- pany, Mr. Morgan was general superintendent. He made seven different trips to Europe for the purpose of visiting the mills of England, Belgium, Germany, France and Sweden. From these visits, from publi- cations devoted to wire manufacturing, and from patents issued both in Europe and America, he kept himself informed of all changes made or improve- ments adopted. The fruit of this devotion was seen in the increased excellence, variety and amount of the company's manufactures. He was for eleven years one of the directors of the company.

An advance step in the wire business was the im- provement of the continuous rolling-mill, designed and constructed in Manchester, England, in accord- ance with the designs of Mr. George Bedson and under his supervision. This continuous rolling con- stituted a great advance on the ordinary rolling pre- viously practiced. After starting the Bedson Mill in 1869, it became evident that its production was lim- ited by the imperfections of the ordinary hand-reel.

Chain Morgan

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WORCESTER.

Mr. Morgan's first important improvement was a power-reel operated by the engine driving the mill ; the second one, the invention and construction of a continuous train of rolls, having only horizontal axes. The first continuous rolling-mill had alter- nately horizontal and vertical axes. Experience has shown that this mill, consisting of a series of hori- zontal rolls with intermediate twisting or turning guides between the rolls, giving the metal'one-quarter of a turn in its passage from one pair of rolls to the next, was far superior to a mill with alternate hori- zontal and vertical rolls. Nine years after the cou- struction of the Bedson Mill, another mill, from new designs furnished by Mr. Morgan, was built on the Belgian and continuous plans. This mill, the result of Mr. Morgan's studies, was known as the Combina- tion Mill. The next improvement suggested by Mr. Morgan related to automatic reels, with a vertically moving platform. These reels were completed and a successful test made Maich 10, 1886, and patent applied for later in the same year. They are now in Use at the company's works.

Since severing his connection with the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company in 1887, Mr. Mor- gan has been consulting mechanical engineer of the American Wire Company, of Cleveland, and has there introduced new and valuable inventions. In 1889 he completed and put into successful operation at Dollar Bay, Michigan, a large copper mill, for the owners of the Tamarack Mine, one of the miues pro- ducing the famous " lake copper," so highly prized for electrical purposes.

In 1868 Mr. Morgan designed, and Milton P. Higgins made drawings for, the first direct hydraulic elevator introduced into New England. This lift was built for a new form of anuealing furnace in the Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company's works. Mr. Hig- gins made valuable improvements in these hydraulic elevators, and they have ever been a most important part of the work done by the Washburn Machine Shop.

Mr. Morgan's great force of character has not been wholly confined to the above-mentioned pursuits. He has been engaged in religious, corporate and edu- cational enterprises in the city of Worcester. He has been an earnest Christian worker in the Sabbath- school, Young Men's Christian Association and the church. He was one of the founders and deacons of Plymouth Church. For years he has been a director of the First National Bank, and president of the Morgan Spring Company.

It has been granted Mr. Morgan not only to bear a leading part in the wire industries of America, but, in his capacity as trustee of the Worcester Polytecli- nic Institute, to render a service of signal importance. It is probable that of these two services the last was the most indispensable. Economic interests would have called for some man to develop the wire indns- try, but rarely would another be found under whose

guidance the Washburu Machine-Shop would have been successful.

In March, 1886, the Hon. Ichabod Washburn made his gift to establish the machine-shop and working mechanical department of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. That shop was to be unique in its plan. It was, to all intents and purposes, to be a business establishment and not a school. The coming of the students into the shop for instruction was to be an important feature, but a feature added to an estab- lishment complete in itself without the students. One of the trustees of the Institute, who has served as a trustee from its founding, says :

"I regard the service of Mr. Charles H. Morgan as one of the most important benefactions ever con- ferred upon the people of Worcester. When Deacon Washburn endowed the machine-shop connected with the Worcester County Free Institute of Indus- trial Science, now known as the ' Polytechnic Insti- tute,' everybody who took an interest in that school felt the gravest anxiety as to the result. Deacon Washburn was getting to be an old man, and his health was feeble. So far as the trustees were iu- formed, there had been no instance in this country, and very few in the world, where an institution of education had conducted profitably a manufacturing establishment, unless the work were of the simplest and cheapest character. To undertake the manage- ment of a machine-shop, requiring a high degree of skill, and to make costly and complicated machinery, such as engine-lathes, was a most hazardous experi- ment.

Deacon Washburn recommended to the trustees to elect Mr. Morgan as one of their associates, with the expectation that he would give the shop the ben- efit of his great mechanical genius and large expe- rience.

Deacon Washburn died before the establishment was fully under way. Mr. Morgan's sagacity, his con- stant oversight, his inventive genius and his great business capacity have been constantly at the service of the school. The machine-shop has been entirely successful, and is now recognized everywhere as a most important and valuable part of the institution. Its plan has been copied far and near. I will not say that no other person could have been found under whose guidance that shop would have been success- ful, thereby contributing the largest part of the suc- cess of the school itself, but I have never known or heard of a person who would have done it, and cer- tainly what has been done there is largely his work."

Mr. Morgan's election as trustee took place Febru- ary 27, 1866. The walls of the Washburn Machine- Shop were about half finished when Mr. Washburn was stricken down with his last sickness. To Mr. Morgan he gave the charge of finishing the shop and equipping it with machinery ready for use. He also commissioned him to select a superintendent of the shop. Mr. Morgan chose Milton P. Higgins, a graduate

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of the Chandler Scientific School at Hanover, N. H. Mr. Washburn sent Mr. Higgius' name to the trus- tees, who elected him superintendent. From the outset Mr. Morgan and Superintendent Higgins have insisted upon having every equipment of the best quality and the best tools only used for work of the highest standard. Much of what has been accom- plished in this real business shop for the practice and instruction of mechanical engineers is the out- come of Mr. Morgan's co-operation, supervisiou and support. No fame is more sure than that of a bene- factor of a well-rounded institution of learning, cer- tain to live and repeat its beneficent influence age after age. Mr. Morgan's title to the grateful remem- brance of the students trained in the Washburn Machine-Shop will strengthen as the years go by.

SAMUEL R. HEYWOOD.

The portrait in this volume which bears the signa- ture of "Samuel R. Heywood " presents the well- known features of a strong, earnest man, whose native force of character has made him one of the recognized factors in the industrial growth and sub- stantial progress of this community, from the Wor- cester of a generation ago to the Worcester of to-day.

Of stalwart physique, and a natural dignity of presence, he unites with a quiet but resolute bearing, a kindliness of manner born of quick sympathies and a generous nature. A man of strong convictions and unflinching moral courage, he has been largely honored with the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and has filled such offices of public trust as have come to him, without the sacrifice of his sturdy self-respect and characteristic devotion to his own principles of life and conduct. One of the old-time Free Soilers, his first vote was cast for James G. Birney, and it naturally follows that he has been a life-long Repub- lican. He was a member of the Common Council in 1859, and of the Board of Aldermen in 1860 and '61. In 1873 and '74 he was again elected to the Common Council, and was the president of that body the latter year. In 1875 he represented the city in the Massa- chusetts House of Representatives, and was re-elected for the two succeeding terms 1876-77, serving on the Railroad Committee in each session. During the latter session he was an early and efficient advocate for the election of Hon. George F. Hoar to the United States Senate, and rendered valuable service in that memor- able contest. Always a stanch temperance man in precept and practice, he has always shown an uncom- promising devotion to the cause of temperance, and a marked absence of those time-serving traits which sometimes determine the " availability " of a candi- date for political honors.

This fact, however, has not prevented him from rendering valuable service to the State for the past ten years in connection with the administration of the system of State Charities of this Commonwealth,

In 1877 he was appointed a trustee of the State Reform School at Westboro' and he was one of the seven trustees retained by the Governor out of the whole number of twenty-one, when, in 1879, the State schools at Monson, Lancaster and Westboro' were consolidated under one management by an act of the Legislature. This position he held until 1888, and to its duties he gave much thought, and showed a sympathetic feeling for unfortunate youth, and spirit of generous helpfulness towards these wards of the State.

In business life his record is that of a successful man, whose steady progress from the start has been due to habits of industry, thrift and temperance, supple- mented by more than the average amount of energy, enterprise and sagacity.

Although not generally known, it is a genealogical fact that Mr. Heywood shares a somewhat distin- guished ancestry. Samuel R. Heywood was born in Princeton, Mass., Nov. 24, 1821, and was the second son of Ezra and Dorcas R. Hoar. Ezra Hoar was the son of Captain Stephen Hoar, and his father was Daniel Hoar, a native of Concord, Mass., who removed from that town early in life and became one of the first settlers of Westminster.

Captain Stephen Hoar was one of the leading busi- ness men of the town, and married Hannah Wood, of Westminster, whose family was also one of promi- nence in the northern part of Worcester County.

Ezra Hoar, the son of Captain Stephen Hoar, mar- ried Dorcas, the daughter of John and Dorcas Roper, the latter a daughter of Col. Timothy Kilburn, of Sterling. Both the Roper and the Kilburn families were held in high esteem in Sterling in their day and generation.

Ezra Hoar was an enterprising farmer of Princeton, and died in July, 1845, leaving a widow and nine children.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 195

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