History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 56

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 56

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It thus appears that Thomas Blanchard's inventions were the primary cause, and are still the indispensa- ble conditions of the interchange system, and that Asa Waters was the pioneer and his armory in Mill- bury the birthplace of this great improvement. His inventions preceded and were the direct cause of Blanchard's great discovery.

The War Department was very liberal in its con- tracts with Asa Waters as long as he lived, in consid- eration of the improvements he introduced. He was born in North Sutton (now Millbury) November 2, 1769. He married, May 19, 1802, Miss Susan Holman, daughter of Col. Jonathan Holman. They had eight children -- seven daughters and one son.

He founded the Millbury Bank in 1825, was its first president and largest stockholder. He gave the site for the Millbury Academy. He originated five water privileges in the Blackstone Valley, and was one of the largest real-estate owners in the county. His business was extensive and diversified. In addi- tion to his gun, scythe and forge works, he held the three water privileges now known as the Millbury Cotton-Mills, the sash and blind shop and the Berlin Mills. He also owned the extensive privilege at Wilkinsonville. In 1815 he purchased the Dudley farm, which included the water-power there, and which he afterward sold to David Wilkinson, of Providence, from whom the village received its name.

He owned three farms in Millbury, and numerous houses, a farm of two hundred acres in Grafton, and nearly a thousand acres of woodland in Douglas. His forge furnished the bar-iron for his gun and scy the works, and Douglas woods the coal and timber.

He was a member of the Legislature when the controversy occurred about Amherst College, helped obtain its charter, and with Rev. Joseph Goffe and General Burbank each contributed five hundred dol- lars towards founding it.

He was one of the founders of the Second Congre- gational Society, and obtained its charter in 1827.

In 1818 he was granted a patent for the invention

Usat N. Waters

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MILLBURY.

of an improved method of building paddle-wheels for steamboats, and later heinvented further improve- ments in wheels for boats and water-power; also a rock-drill.

He lived the last twelve years of his life in the homestead which he built, and which was completed in 1829. It was three years in building, and was for many years one of the finest mansions in the county.

He died December 24, 1841, and his last words were: "I am only going from this room to one above."

ASA HOLMAN WATERS.1

Among the men who came into the colony of the Massachusetts Bay in its early years was Richard Waters, who arrived with Governor Winthrop in 1630 and settled in Salem, where he became a sub- stantial citizen.

In his English home he was by trade a gun-maker, and his wife was the daughter of a gun-maker.

In Salem the family lived and developed itself through three generations. After King Philip's War, and especially after the beginning of the last century, there was a great movement of population from the coast to take possession of the inland territories and form new towns. It was soon after this period that Jonathan and Nathaniel Waters came from Salem and settled on the hills of Sutton. There the fam- ily lived on through three generations more. The order from the beginning at Salem down to the present has been : (1) Richard, (2) John, (3) Nathaniel, (+) Jonathan, (5) Asa, (6) Asa. This last was the father of Asa Holman (7) Waters, the subject of this sketch.

In the development of character, it is a great gain when a child can rest back upon a solid and honor- able ancestry. Many a child, it is true, has risen to the high places of honor and influence in the world without such advantages. But none will deny that a worthy ancestry bears an important part in the formation of noble manhood or womanhood. At the time of Mr. Waters' birth there was no family-name of more weight and dignity than his own in the town, and it stood connected with its thrift and in- dustry as well as with its hest moral and religious interests.

On his mother's side also there was an honorable background. Susan Holman was one of twelve chil- dren of Colonel Jonathan Holman, who commanded a regiment in the War of the Revolution, known as the "Sutton Regiment." It was so called partly be- cause he raised it and partly because a large portion of the men were gathered from this ancient town. The people were proud of the services Colonel Hol- man had rendered the country in that long and try- ing war for independence, and especially of the high and patriotic spirit with which he encountered labors

and losses that his country might he made free. He also served through the French and Indian Wars.

Asa Holman Waters was born February 8, 1808. He was an only son in a family of eight children.

He prepared for college at Monson Academy, and in 1825, then only seventeen years of age, entered Yale. He graduated in 1829. He subsequently en- tered upon the study of the law at Harvard, and in 1835 was admitted to the bar.

But hardly had he entered upon his professional life, when it became evident that his father, by reason of advancing years, needed his assistance, and so he turned into the walks of business, and never followed his chosen profession, though his studies in this de- partment added to his general culture, and were of great use to him in his business life. (His father died December 24, 1841, and his mother eight years later.)

In his early life Colonel Waters connected himself with the Democratic party. On the second election of Governor Marcus Morton in 1843 as Democratic Governor of Massachusetts, he chose Mr. Waters on his staff, and it was in this way that he gained his title of " Colonel."

When the great moral questions pertaining to American slavery began to blend themselves strongly with the politics of the country, Colonel Waters passed as a dissenter from the Democratic, through the Free-Soil party, into the Republican, where he remained until his death. In 1848-49 he represented the town of Millbury in the General Court, and in 1853 was a member of the Constitutional Convention in Boston. At various times he held many positions of responsibility and trust, including all the leading offices of his native town. He was united in marriage, June 27, 1849, with Miss Mary Elizabeth Hovey, daughter of Daniel and Susan (Jacobs) Hovey, of Sutton. From this marriage there were three daugh- ters : (1) Isabel Holman, (2) Lilian Hovey, (3) Flor- ence Elizabeth.

Lilian Hovey was united in marriage, October 23, 1873, with Professor Edwin A. Grosvenor, of Robert College, Constantinople. They have three sons : Asa Waters, Edwin Prescott, Gilbert Hovey. Florence Elizabeth married, October 4, 1888, Henry Ayling Phillips, of Worcester, S.B., M.I.T .. '73.

In 1845 Colonel Waters associated with himself Messrs. Thomas J. Harrington and Benjamin F. Flagg in establishing and carrying forward the Millbury Cot- ton Mills, under the firm-name of A. H. Waters & Co. In later years he built the Stillwater Mill, one of the handsomest mills on the Blackstone River, which was afterwards destroyed by fire. This order of things continued until the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion, in 1861. When the gigantic nature of this struggle began to make itself manifest, the Government turned again to find, if possible, the remains of the old private armories, which by its summary action it had ruined in 1845. There were but two which had survived, Waters' of Millbury,

1 By Rev. I. N. Tarbox, D.D.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

and Whitney's of New Haven. It was a work of great labor and expense to equip the old armory with new machinery for resuming the manufacture of fire- arms ; but after considering the matter, it was arranged that the works at Millbury should be engaged only in the manufacture of rods and bayonets for the relief of the Springfield Armory, which was greatly over- burdened with work.

Millbury was again a scene of stir and activity, in a form of business to which it was thoroughly accus- tomed in the ancient days, and the enterprise was highly remunerative. The United States spent money with a liberal hand until the Rebellion was completely subdued. When the enterprise was started at Millbury it could not be told how soon it might be brought to an end, and Colonel Waters took upon himself great personal financial risks. After the close of the war the Atlanta Mills Company was formed and Colonel Waters was the first president.

In 1868 Colonel Waters retired from active busi- ness with a good property. In the years of leisure which now came on he developed that decided liter- ary taste which was rooted and grounded in him through all the years of his activity, but which he had not found much time to indulge. It is true, through the years of the anti-slavery struggle preced- ing the war, and also as a member of the Free-Soil party, he took an active part at political meetings as a public speaker in almost every town in the county, where his speech was persuasive and effectual in moving the voters.

But now, in the calm of his advancing years, he found delight in his pen, and did not a little excel- lent work with it. He had also leisure for entertain- ing his friends and exercising hospitality. From his youth up he was gifted with fine conversational powers. His sense of humor was keen and compre- hensive, and as a story-teller few could surpass him. He was a rare contributor to the delight of social converse. His conversation was always bright, en- tertaining, instructive.

In 1874, with his wife and two daughters, he made a journey to Europe and the East. They were gone from the country two years. Quite a long portion of this time was passed at Constantinople with his mar- ried daughter, but also long periods of time were spent in general traveling through the countries of Europe and the East, including Egypt. Looking over the note-books which he kept through this long journey, one is surprised to notice with what care and accuracy he recorded and described, in his clear, handsome handwriting, the events of the passing days and the notable things with which he came in contact.

He returned to this country, with his family, in 1876, and in the ten years of his life that remained he did no small amount of literary labor which was continued till within a few days of his death. In a sketch like this it would hardly be advisable that we

should go into any extended review of the various writings which occupied his time and thought in this advanced period of his life. Some of them were in a measure controversial, and were designed to correct what he deemed to be grave historical errors and misstatements. He believed that Wendell Phillips' famous lecture on the "Lost Arts " was visionary, not founded on truth and reality, but only on seem- ing truth, which vanished away when thoroughly ex- amined. He did not believe that the human race had ever lost a single art or mechanical power of any value, which had once been in its keeping. Some arts might be lost that ministered simply to fancy or luxury, but they were always lost if at all, because they were superseded by something better which had displaced them, or were "arts abandoned for better methods."

So, too, he did not believe that Mr. Garrison and his party associates abolished American slavery. The destruction of slavery in this country did not come along that line. The Garrison party had no succession of events leading up to it, or even in any marked way leading toward it. The historical line by which this great result was reached seems to have been as follows : There was a wide-spread anti-sla- very sentiment in all the northern portion of the country when Mr. Garrison began his work. What he and his associates did was one outcropping of this growing sentiment. But at the very time when he was beginning his anti-slavery activities you might have gone to the colleges all over the North, and you would have found hundreds of students of deci- dedly anti-slavery sentiment; but they could never be brought to adopt Mr. Garrison's methods. If you had gone to the farm-houses, to the homes of the people far and wide, you would have found this rising spirit of opposition to slavery, which did not follow in Mr. Garrison's steps, but which, on the other hand, marshaled the voters into the Liberty party, the Free-Soil party, the Republican party. When the anti-slavery voters of the country chose Abraham Lincoln President of the United States, the South rose and plunged the nation into civil war. To put down this Rebellion, the government, after long waiting, brought slavery to a summary end by the proclamation of emancipation, January 1, 1863. But the Garrison party was not composed of voters or of soldiers. How, then, can the small band of Garrisonian abolitionists claim that they were the chief instruments in bringing about this result, or that they were anything more than indirect contri- butors to this end. This was in general the ground maintained by Colonel Waters in his long and spir- ited controversy on this subject with Mr. Oliver Johnson, of New York.

Still more extended and varied have been his arti- cles on Thomas Blanchard and his remarkable in- ventions, which brought about the "Uniformity or Interchange System " in mechanics. On this gene-

John Rhocus

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ral subject, to which he had given special attention, several articles of his have already been published, and more are yet to appear. He furnished several valuable articles for the "History of Sutton," which was published in 1878. He prepared for it the "Ge- nealogical Record of the Waters Family," the article on "Gun-Making," "Sutton in the Revolution," and other important matter. He was also interested in the " Worcester County History," published in 1879, and lent much aid in the preparation of that work.

After his retirement from business in 1868, and more especially after his return from the Old World in 1876, he was very much at home, busy with his books and his pen. He was thus bronght into a daily intimacy and companionship with his family, such as could not naturally exist during his years of active business. His home was the centre of his brightest joys. This constant presence, this daily companionship, made his death even more of a breach in his household, and the more so because it was not preceded by a long illness. He had a rich and varied character, and his family have a blessed memory of devotion, gentleness and goodness.

He was at work with his pen until within a few days before his departure. His breaking down was sudden, not apparently from any positive disease, but by a sudden giving way of all his powers, such as is seen not infrequently in old age. He lingered on for some days without pain, until January 17, 1887, when " he was not, for God took him," a tranquil end to old age. In three weeks more he would have reached his seventy-ninth birthday.

He had a firm, controlling faith in an over-ruling Providence, and his daily motto in his later years was :

" Trust in God, do your duty, and fear not."

JOHN RHODES.

The subject of this sketch was born at Whites- boro', N. Y., February 5, 1813. His father was a dyer by trade, but at that time followed the occupa- tion of a farmer. Until nineteen years of age Mr. Rhodes followed his father's occupation, attending school a part of the time.

After the close of his school-days Mr. Rhodes went to North Carolina, and with a team, traveled through that State for some time, selling dry-goods at retail. His first connection with mill work was as a dyer, in the State of Connecticut, which was contin- ned at Providence, R. I., until he was about twenty- four years old. Later he was employed at the same business by J. & A. Morse, of Smithville, R. I. In 1846 he removed to Bellingham, Mass., and operated a mill for the manufacture of cotton warp. This mill was run by him until 1851. He then came to Millbury, and, in company with Joseph H. Merry, hired a small mill of the Cordis Company, and con- tinued -the manufacture of cotton warp at that place

about three years. In 1854 they bought the stone mill, built by Elder Waters, which is still run by Mr. Rhodes.

Some ten years later Mr. Rhodes leased, at North Oxford, what was known then as the Protective Mill, and a year later bought the property which was afterwards known as the Oxford Cotton-Mill. He associated with him a partner, and the firm was known as Rhodes & Wilmarth. This mill was sold by Mr. Rhodes in 1888.

In 1872 he bonght what is known as the Pinafore Mill, situated on the site of the old Braman Mill, and which is now run by him on cotton warp.

1888 .- Several years after the death of Alfred Morse, at Farnumsville, in company with Wm. An- drews, of Woonsocket, and Capt. Peter Simpson, of Millbury, Mr. Rhodes bought the privilege, tene- ments, hotel and all the factory property formerly owned by Mr. Morse. The business was continued some two or three years, when Mr. Rhodes withdrew. Two mills in town are at present run by him. He was married, in 1838, to Sarah B. Johnson, of West Woodstock, Conn., by whom he has had two children -Otis W. and Maria, who married Henry M. Wil- cox, of Johnson, R. I. Mrs. Rhodes died in 1880. In 1869 Mr. Rhodes was chosen to represent his town and district in the Legislature of 1870, a posi- tion which he filled acceptably.

His career as a business man has been successful. Throughout his long business life he has paid one hundred cents on the dollar-at any and all times. By thorough application to all the details of his business a prosperous one has been maintained, which has done much for the growth and prosperity of the community about him.

LEVI L. WHITNEY.

Hon. Levi Lincoln Whitney was born in Princeton, Mass., January 20, 1838. His father, Colonel John Whitney, was a farmer, holding at one time a deputy- sheriff's commission in the county. His colonel's commission came from serving in the Massachusetts militia. At the age of thirteen Levi left home to live with his grandfather, Colonel Jacob W. Watson, an old- time tanner and leather manufacturer at Princeton, then one of the leading men in the town. Young Whitney remained with him about three years, dur- ing which he attended the common schools.

At the age of sixteen he came to Millbury and en- tered the employ of A. Wood & Sons, shoe manufac- turers, remaining with them a year. He next went to Worcester and attended Worcester Academy one year. He then returned to Millbury and the second time entered the employ of A. Wood & Sons. He remained with them until twenty-one years of age. Previous to this his brother, Charles A. Whitney, and O. E. Thompson, formerly of Millbury, had es- tablished at Chicago the first regular boot and shoe

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

manufactory started in that city. In 1859 Mr. Whit- ney removed to that city and became a member of the firm of Thompson, Whitney & Co. This firm, with some changes, did a successful business up to the time of the great fire, in 1871, when they were burned out. This was the largest manufactory of the kind in that city up to that time. This closed the affairs of the firm and Mr. Whitney returned to Mill- bury and associated himself with the firm of Crane & Waters, hosiery manufacturers, continuing with them until 1885, when the concern was merged into a cor- poration.

In 1875 he was also engaged in the manufacture of indigo blue dye at Millbury, which business he still continues as Whitney & Molt. In 1877 Mr. Whit- ney bought the old cotton-mill privilege, once owned by General Burbank, and where Jater Harvey Waters built a machine-shop, which was followed by a woolen-mill, run by the Woodward Brothers, Wood- ward & Gorton, and later, as a cotton-mill, by the Larneds, Jonas A. Hovey, Jonathan A. Pope, Emer- son & Brierly, and others. At this place Mr. Whit- ney manufactured yarns until 1884, when the mill was burnt.

In 1886 he erected the present brick machine-shop on this site. The building is leased to the Stonmetz Printers' Machinery Company, which came here from Erie, Pa., Mr. Whitney being the president. He is also treasurer of the Pentecost Steam Generator Com- pany at Worcester. He was chosen a director of the Millbury National Bank in 1875, holding that posi- tion ever since. He was elected a trustee of the Millbury Savings Bank in 1873, and chosen president of the institution in 1888. He was elected as one of the selectmen of the town in 1877, '78, '79, and again in 1881, and the fifth time in 1887. In 1880 he was chosen to represent the old Fifteenth District in the House of Representatives, composed of the towns of Sutton, Auburn and Millbury. In 1888 he was elected to represent the Third Worcester Senatorial District in the Legislature of 1889. He is also a member of the Worcester County Commandery of Knights Templar.

Mr. Whitney married, in 1862, Annie R., daughter of the late Hon. Hosea Crane, of Millbury, by whom he has had four children,-one son, Walter L., a partner in the Worcester Steam Heating Company, of that city, and three daughters, one being dead. Mr. Whitney is one of the self-made men of the county-a man successful in all his business ven- tures. He has done much for the interests of his adopted town. A strong opposer of intemperance, he has done much to rid the town of this curse to its growth and prosperity. He is ever found on the side of right and justice-a man in the prime of life re- spected and honored by his fellow-citizens.

MOWRY A. LAPHAM.

Mr. Lapham was born in Burrillville, R. I., in 1819. His father followed the occupation of a carpenter and a mill workman. The subject of this sketch at- tended school until about sixteen years of age. He then worked with his father at the carpenter's trade, until he reached the age of eighteen. Removing to Waterford, Mass., he followed the same occupation there for the space of two years. He next entered the machine-shop there of W. & D. D. Farnum, with whom he remained two years, after which he entered the machine-shop of Southwick & Brown, at Mill- ville. Here be remained two years, and then re- moved to Fall River, and entered a machine-shop there, being employed by Hawes, Marvill & Devoll. While at this place he was married to Harriet T. Thayer, of Mendon, of the part which is now Black- stone. After his marriage he remained there about two years. At the age of twenty-six he returned to Millville, and was employed in the machine-shop of Farnum & Harding as superintendent of the iron and wood-working department. His career as a manufac- turer may be said to have begun in 1860, when he went to Cherry Valley, Mass., and began the manu- facture of kerseymeres under the firm-name of Lapham & Smith. At the end of two years Mr. Smith retired, when Mr. Lapham took the business and run the mill about four years, when it was burnt.

In 1863 he had bought the old paper-mill privilege, formerly owned by General Burbank, at Millbury, purchasing of F. H. Richmond, of Providence. A company was formed as M. & S. Lapham, and a mill built. After the death of Smith Lapham, the busi- ness was continued under the name of M. A. Lapham. The mill which had been erected was burnt in 1876. The present fine mill was erected in 1879. An ex- cellent quality of woolen goods are made at this mill, and their reputation is a national one. The mill is one of the largest in town, is lit with electric light, and has all the most improved machinery, and gives employment to a large number of hands. The spot is an historie one, having for more than a cen- tury been used for manufacturing purposes. Mr. Lapham has held several offices in the county, having served as selectman and overseer of the poor at Blackstone two years. Of late years his residence has been at Worcester, where he was on the Board of Alderman six years. For the past sixteen years he has been a director of the Manufacturers' Mutual Insurance Company, of that city. He has two chil- dren,-Frederick A. Lapham, superintendent of the mill, and Hattie M., wife of Mr. F. A. Leland, ot Worcester. The death of Mrs. Lapham took place in 1884.

Mr. Lapham is one of the successful manufactur- ers of the county. By industry and good management he has established a prosperous business, which has contributed much to the material welfare of the town of Millbury.

No. A. Lapham

Joseph briggs

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MILLBURY.

JOSEPH GRIGGS.

Captain Joseph Griggs was born in Sutton, Mass., November 3, 1786. His early youth was spent upon his father's farm. When the time arrived for him to fit himself for the duties of life, he left home and went to Charlton, Mass., and there learned the tan- ner's trade of Colonel Bacon, a noted tanner of those times. Having fitted himself by experience, he went to Northampton, Mass., and worked awhile at his trade. After remaining there a short time he re- turned to Sutton and went to school. Having added to his store of knowledge as best he could, he taught school awhile in the part of Sutton now Millbury.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 56

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