USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 15
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THOMAS B. FITZPATRICK.
119
BOSTON.
V I ERY REV. WILLIAM BYRNE, D. D., vicar- general of the archdiocese of Boston, is one of the best known of American churchmen. Dr. Byrne was born in Kilmessan, County Meath, Ireland, in 1835, went to Baltimore in 1852, and went into business ; but finally, convinced of his call to the priesthood, left a good position and brilliant prospects. He pursued his ecclesiastical studies at Mt. St. Mary's College, Emmittsburg, Md., and was ordained for the diocese of Boston, Dec. 31, 1864. For some time before his ordi- nation, and for a year thereafter, he was professor of mathematics and Greek at the college. He was recalled to Boston late in 1865. The Rt. Rev. John J. Williams, after his consecration as Bishop of Boston, March II, 1866, ap- pointed Father Byrne chancellor of the diocese. Later he was made pastor of St. Mary's, Charles- town. Dr. Byrne had the privilege, on June 6, 1875, of offi- ciating at the first Catholic religious services ever held in the State Prison, Charlestown. On the death of the Very Rev. P. F. Lyndon, April 18, 1878, Dr. Byrne succeeded him in the office of vicar-general. In 1880 he was induced to accept the presidency of Mt. St. Mary's, Emmittsburg, Md., in order that he might extricate it from financial difficulties. This he accom- plished in three years and won the grateful esteem of the whole American episcopate and priesthood. On his return to Boston, he succeeded to the pastorate of St. Joseph's. Dr. Byrne was the founder of the Boston Temperance Missions. He was administrator of the
WILLIAM BYRNE.
archdiocese during Archbishop Williams' visits to Rome in 1883 and 1887 ; he also represented the archbishop in Rome at the Golden Jubilee of Pope Leo XIII., in 1888. While in Rome he received many marks of special favor from the authorities there. At the St. Patrick's day banquet in London in 1888, he responded to the toast "The Irish in America." Dr. Byrne is a clear and vigorous writer. The chapter on "The Roman Catholic Church in Boston," in "The Memorial History of Boston," is from his pen ; and his new book, "Catholic Doctrine," has received the highest commenda- tion from Archbishop Williams, Cardinal Gibbons, and other high authorities. He is often called upon to state the Catholic attitude toward burn- ing questions. Some years ago the Uni- versalist ministers of Boston sent him an invitation to prepare a paper to be read before one of their conferences, to which
he responded by an admirable address on "Aids to Practical Piety," which was very well received. Early in 1892, Dr. Byrne accepted an 1 invitation to a stu- dents' conference at Harvard University, and read before them a masterly paper on "Authority as a Medium of Religious Knowledge." Dr. Byrne was one of the closest friends of the brilliant John Boyle O'Reilly, and projected and carried out successfully one of the most interesting memorials to the lamented dead -the portrait bust, executed by the sculptor Samuel Kitson, in the Catholic University. He has lately pub- lished, in "Donahoe's Magazine," a paper on the school question that has attracted much attention.
120
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
T THOUGH not born or reared under the Arcadian influences that have shaped the lives of so many of Boston's men of letters, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, now in his sunny prime, - the most pointed and exquisite of living American lyrical craftsmen,- is justly awarded a place at the head of the younger art school. As editor for several years of the " Atlantic Monthly," he was one of the central figures in a group that included the most famous names in American literature. And since his retirement from editorial duties his pen has been as busy as ever before. A poet of inborn taste, a votary of the beautiful, many of his delicately conceived pieces are unexcelled by any modern work, and they illustrate the American instinct which unites a Saxon honesty of feeling to that artistic subtilty in which the French surpass the world. His shorter tales and sketches, finished like so many poems in prose, are as spark- lingly original as they are delightful for the the airy by-play, the refined nuances, of a captivating literary style. Thomas Bailey Aldrich was born a poet. That hap - pened Nov. 11, 1836, at Portsmouth, N. H., the " Rivermouth " of his stories, and before he had reached the age of nine- teen he gave, in ""The Bells," the first proof of his birthright. He began a course of study preparatory to entering college, but relinquished his purpose on the death of his father, and undertook mercantile life in the counting-room of his uncle, a merchant in New York. The muse, however, was not to be balked. He remained with his uncle three years, and during this period frequently contributed verses to the New York
THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH.
journals. A collection of his poems was published in New York in 1855, the volume taking its name from the initial piece, "The Bells." A most successful poem, " Baby Bell," published in 1856, was generally copied throughout the entire country, and perhaps it was the favor with which it was received that induced him to abandon mercantile pursuits for a literary career. He obtained a position as reader for a publishing house, and became a frequent contributor to the New York Evening Mirror, the "Knickerbocker," " Putnam's Maga - zine," and the weekly newspapers. In 1856 he joined the staff of the New York Home Fournal, which was then under. the man- agement of Nathan- iel P. Willis and George P. Morris. He continued in this 1 position three years, during which time his pen was busy, many of his poems and stories becom- ing popular favorites. In 1866 he came to Boston to take the editorial charge of Every Saturday, and in 1881 was called to the editorship of the "Atlantic Monthly," to succeed W. D. Howells. Mr. Aldrich's best-known prose works are: " The Story of a Bad Boy," which is in some degree autobiographical, and which, under the name of "The Young Desperado," was contributed to "Our Young Folks " many years ago ; "Prudence Palfrey," and " Marjorie Daw, and Other Stories." Translations of his books have had a wide circulation in Europe. He was married in 1865, has two sons, twins, and lives in a beautiful home at No. 59 Mt. Vernon Street. His readers are familiar with the name of Ponkapog, his summer residence.
I21
BOSTON.
T THE most familiar name in the history of American music is that of Dr. Lowell Mason, who accom- plished more than any other man for the introduction of music into schools. One of his sons is Dr. William Mason, of New York, a well-known composer. Another son, Henry, built the first American cabinet or parlor organ, and with Mr. Hamlin, in 1854, established a business that has grown to enormous proportions, acquiring a world-wide reputation, and is now known as the Mason & Hamlin Organ and Piano Company. Of this company Edward P. ยท Mason, son of Henry, and grandson of Dr. Lowell Mason, is the president. He was born in Cambridge, Mass., June 13, 1859, the son of Henry and Helen Augusta (Palmer) Mason. Having attended public and private schools, he entered Harvard College and graduated in 1881, among his classmates being Rev. Dr. George A. Gordon, pastor of the Old South Church, and Mr. Charles Mac- Veagh (son of Wayne MacVeagh), Grover Cleveland's law part- ner. After gradua- ting, Mr. Mason en- tered his father's business, beginning at the bottom and working his way up. In 1884 he went to the New York house of the Mason & Hamlin Company, and in 1888 was made its manager. He held this position until Jan. 1, 1890, when he was elected treasurer of the company, and returned to Boston. Upon the death of his father, in May of the same year, he was chosen president of the company, the office which he now holds. Mr. Mason was married in 1886 to Miss Mary Lord Taintor, of South Orange, N. J.
EDWARD P. MASON.
They have two children living. Their home is in Boston. The American cabinet organ is the most widely used of large musical instruments. It was in- troduced in its present general form by Mason & Ham- lin, in 1861, and its use has extended to all civilized countries, about eighty thousand being now manufac- tured yearly in the United States. The present busi- ness, which, until 1868, had been conducted under the name of Mason & Hamlin, was in that year incorpo- rated under the laws of Massachusetts, and has a paid-up capital of five hun- dred thousand dollars. The man- ufactories of the Mason & Hamlin Organ and Piano Company, situated at Cambridgeport, employ five hundred skilled workmen in the various depart- ments. The Mason & Hamlin organs have carried off the highest medals and premiums at all the great world's fairs since and including that of Paris in 1867. In the kindred field of piano manufac- turing the company has met with pro- nounced success, the Mason & Hamlin piano presenting radical improve- ments in the method of stringing, by which an unusually pure and refined musi- cal tone and great durability are secured, with greatly decreased liability to getting out of tune. In every respect the Mason & Hamlin pianos are constructed in accordance with the most advanced principles of the . art, and their singing capacity is marvellous ; the tone powerful, sweet, and brilliant, the scale perfect and the actions the best in every respect. Mr. Mason is con- nected with the leading social clubs of Boston.
122
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
J JOSEPH O. BURDETT, who is prominent in the councils of the Republican party of Massachu- setts, was born in Wakefield (then South Reading), Middlesex County, Oct. 30, 1848, being the son of Joseph and Sally (Mansfield) Burdett. His early edu- cation was obtained in the public schools of Wakefield, and in 1867 he entered Tufts College, at Medford. He was a very hard-working student here, and was gradu- ated second in his class, notwithstanding the fact that he had to be absent nearly one half the time to earn the money necessary for the other half. He took up the study of law immediately upon his graduation, in the office of Judge Hammond, then city solicitor of Cam- bridge, and in the same year entered the Harvard Law School. On April 19, 1873, he was ad- mitted to the bar in Middlesex County, and during the fol- lowing year practised with Judge Ham- mond. In 1874 he moved to Hingham. where he now lives, and in the following year opened an office in Boston, where his great industry and integrity soon built up for him a lucra- tive practice. For more than fifteen years he has been a member of the Hingham School Board, and its chairman for more than ten years. In public affairs Mr. Burdett has always taken an active interest, and this has led him several times into public office. Hull and Hingham, in 1884, sent him to the lower branch of the General Court, and in that term of service he was chairman of the Com- mittec on Public Service. Ile reported a civil service bill which, largely through his earnest and intelligent
labor, became the law of the State, it being most per- sistently fought at every stage of its progress toward passage. In the following year he was re-elected, and while retaining his position as chairman of the Public Service Committee, he was also a member of the Judi- ciary Committee. In the more important debates in the House that year he was prominent. In 1886 Mr. Burdett was made a member of the Republican State Central Committee, and in that body he showed a political shrewdness and capacity for or- ganization and ef- fective work which won deserved recog- nition. When the committee was reor- ganized, in 1889, he was unanimously elected chairman, and remained in that position three years, serving with fidelity and energy. The next year his growing business called him away from the scene of active politics, and he again devoted himself to the pro- fession which he graces, and in which he has gained much prominence. Mr. Burdett has consid- erable aptitude for business, and is director of the Rock- land Hotel Com- pany, which owns the two beautiful and famed hotels at Nantasket,-the Nantasket and Rock- land houses. He is also a director in the Weymouth Light and Power Company, which furnishes light to the towns of Weymouth and Hingham. He is now actively engaged in the practice of law in Boston. In 1874, upon his removal to Hingham, Mr. Burdett married Ella, daughter of John K. and Joan J. Corthell, of that town. His three children are : Harold Corthell, Edith Mans- field, and Helen Ripley Burdett.
JOSEPH O. BURDETT.
123
BOSTON.
N EARLY three generations of Bostonians have been trained to love the choral classics given by the venerable Handel and Haydn Society, of which Carl Zerrahn is the leader. There can be no doubt that much of the progress of the society, from its crude beginning in 1815 to the lofty ideals and achievements which it attained within two or three decades after its foundation, was due to the influence of German musi- cians, just as it has reached the high-water mark of its efficiency under the artistic direction of the German who is still at the post which he accepted in Sep- tember, 1854. For more than a genera- tion Carl Zerrahn has, by virtue of his position as conductor of . the society, been the most conspicu- ous chorus leader in America. He was born in Malchow, in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg- Schwerin, July 28, 1826. He began the study of music when he was twelve years old, under F. Web- ber, in Rostock, and subsequently studied in Hanover and Ber- lin. The agitated state of the country about the time he attained his major- ity, culminating in the revolution of March, 1848, had a serious effect on the musical inter- ests of Germany, and influenced many to seek refuge in America. Among others, Mr. Zerrahn, and about a score of kindred spirits, determined to leave the Father- land and organized what was known as the Germania Musical Society. They visited London, where a series of entertainments was given with distinguished artistic success. In August, 1848, they left London for the United States, and gave a series of sixteen concerts in
New York and Brooklyn, meeting with unbounded suc- cess. The series closed in November, after which they visited Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, and then came to Boston, where their success was such as to cause the number of their concerts to be extended to twenty-two. Subsequently the company appeared many times in conjunction with Madame Sontag, Ole Bull, and other distinguished artists. In 1854 the com- pany disbanded, and in a short time Mr. Zerrahn was appointed conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. In 1866 he was chosen conductor of the Harvard Symphony Association. He has also been conductor of the Philharmonic Society, of the Salem Oratorio Society, of the Lynn Choral Union, of the Taun- ton Beethoven Soci- ety, and of the Exeter Choral Union. For many years he has been teacher of classes in the art of conducting,harmony, composition, etc., at the New England Conservatory of Music. He was prominently engaged in the management of the Peace Jubilees of 1869 and 1872. He has also had ex- clusive control over the Handel and Haydn Triennial Festivals. Thoroughly familiar with all the great vocal and instrumental works, he is equal to any emergency, and when he waves his baton he is as calm as a summer morn, every movement and wave of his hand indicating as thorough a knowledge of and preparation for the important work of any particular occasion as though no other care had ever engaged his attention. Carl Zerrahn's honorable place in the history of music in America is firmly established.
CARL ZERRAHN.
124
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
L AWYER, politician and business man, Halsey J. Boardman is one of the active figures in the life of contemporary Boston. He was born May 19, 1834, in Norwich, Windsor County, Vt., the son of Nathaniel and Sarah (Hunt) Boardman. His earliest ancestor in this country was Samuel Boardman, a Puritan, who set- tled in Connecticut in 1631. In the public schools of his native town he was fitted for Thetford Academy, and graduated from that institution in 1854 as the valedic- torian of his class. Entering Dartmouth College in the same year, he graduated in 1858 with high honors. After teach- ing the high school in Leominster, Mass., one year, he con- tinued, in the office of Norcross & Snow at Fitchburg, and later with Philip H. Sears at Boston, the study of law, which he had pursued while teaching. Admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1860, he began the practice of law, in Boston, as senior - partner of the firm of Boardman & Blodgett, this rela- tion continuing until the elevation of the junior partner, Caleb Blodgett, to the bench of the Superior Court. Subsequently, Stephen H. Tyng was admitted as partner, and later Frank Paul. Mr. Board- man is now in practice alone. During the past few years he has been engaged in various manufacturing and railroad interests, which have necessitated frequent and prolonged absences from the city and State. His business and legal talents have made him influential in many quarters. He is president of the Duluth & Win- nipeg Railroad Company, and a director of several other railroad corporations. He is also president of the Evans
Coal Company, a large producer of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania ; president of the Commercial Mining Company of Colorado, and director of the Boston Marine Insurance Company. Mr. Boardman has been repeatedly called by his fellow-citizens to public office. From 1862 to 1864 he was commissioner of the Board of Enrolment, under President Lincoln, for the fourth Congressional district. He was also chairman of the Republican Ward and City Committee of Boston in 1 874, member of the Common Coun- cil, and its president, in 1875 ; Republican candidate for mayor in the same year ; member of the lower House of the Massa- chusetts Legislature from 1883 to 1885 inclusive. In the House he was a member of the Rail- road Committee dur- ing his entire term, and House chairman during the last two years. In this capa- city he was instru- mental in securing a large amount of legis- lation calculated to improve the railroad service in this State, notably provisions for the change of railroad crossings, safety couplers on freight cars, regula- tions against dis- crimination in freight rates, and for improvement in signals and precautions enforced against color blindness, - all matters involving exhaustive examination and sound judgment. He was elected to the State Senate in 1887 and 1888, and was president of that body both years. Mr. Boardman's influence upon the railroad legislation of Massachusetts has probably been as great and far-reaching as that of any other man. He was married in 1862 to Miss Georgia M. Hinman, of Boston. They have two daughters.
HALSEY J. BOARDMAN.
125
BOSTON.
JOHN M. GRAHAM, president of the International Trust Company, was born June 25, 1843, of Scotch parents, coming with them to this country when he was ten years of age. From a long line of pure Scotch an- cestry he inherited those strong traits of character that have enabled him to win a conspicuous place among American financiers. He was educated in the Fitch- burg, Mass., public schools, and in 1860 was appointed librarian of the Fitchburg Public Library, at the same time beginning the study of law. He gave so good satis- faction as assistant librarian that in 1861 he was elected as chief librarian over his former superior and competitor, re- ceiving a unanimous re-election in 1862 and again in 1863, when he resigned to accept a position in the Rollstone Bank of Fitchburg. He continued the study of law, expecting to be admitted to the bar when he became of age, but the at- tractions of banking proved too strong, and he relinquished all thoughts of a legal career. As assistant cashier and as cashier he remained with the bank - which mean- while had become a national bank - until 1881, when he resigned to take up the business of the negotiation of municipal bonds and loans and com- mercial paper in Boston. In this he was very success- ful, his faculty of investigation making him a good judge of credit, and he always refused to negotiate any loan the quality of which was the least in doubt. In 1881 he was invited to the presidency of the International Trust Company, which had been chartered and begun business in 1879, but had not been eminently success-
JOHN M. GRAHAM.
ful. Its capital stock was $300,000, selling on the market at eighty cents on the dollar, the deposits amounting to about $500,000. After an investigation, Mr. Graham became satisfied that with good manage- ment the company could be made a success, and there- fore, on March 1, 1882, he accepted its presidency. Putting his characteristic energy, industry and perse- verance into the work, and surrounding himself with an able and conservative board of directors, the company soon entered upon a career of unexampled prosperity. To-day the company, under his management, with its capital of $1,000,000, its sur- plus (reserved earn- ings) of $700,000, other undivided prof- its of $242,000, with deposits of nearly $6,000,000, and trust deposits of over $1,000,000, stands second to no other financial institution in the city in the character of its offi- cers and directors, its conservative man- agement, financial standing and public esteem. The com- pany is also the only trust or safe deposit company in the city owning its own busi- ness quarters, which in this case is not only the most beau- tiful office building in Boston, but is, at the same time, a credit to the broad, liberal and far-seeing management of the company, and a monument to its president, who by his ability, energy and perseverance, has contributed so much to its remarkable success. Although with an experience of over a quarter of a century in the pro- fession of banking, Mr. Graham is still a young man, older than he looks, but with excellent health and a great capacity for work.
126
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
C ONSPICUOUS among the men of foreign birth who have helped to maintain the high standing of Massachusetts in the commercial and manufacturing world is Robert Bleakie, who was born in Rutherglen, Scotland, Aug. 1, 1833. At the age of fourteen he ac- companied his father to Amesbury, Mass., where the latter had been engaged by the Amesbury Manufacturing Company to start for them the making of fancy cassi- meres. Young Bleakie had already gone through the training of bobbin winding and power- loom weaving, and had served an apprenticeship as a hand - loom weaver, so he, too, went to work in Amesbury on the power looms. He remained here four years, and in 1852 went to Providence, R. I., where he found em- ployment at $1.08 a day in the Elm Street Mill. In 1858 John W. Stitt & Co., of New York, en- gaged him to take charge of their fac- tories at Franklin, N. J., where he was highly successful in his relations with both employers and employees. In 1860 he hired a cotton batting mill at Tol- land, Conn., and fitted it up as a one- set woollen mill, starting thus in business for himself. The venture proved to be very successful, and flattering offers were made to induce Mr. Bleakie to return to Rhode Island. The negotiations were abandoned, how- ever, and Mr. Bleakie went to Hyde Park, Mass., where he assumed the management of the Hyde Park Woollen Company's mill. He retained this position until 1873, when the mill was destroyed by fire. During the next two years Mr. Bleakie visited and inspected a large
number of mills throughout New England in the ca- pacity of an expert. The foundation of the present firm of Robert Bleakie & Co. was laid in 1875, when Robert Bleakie, John S. Bleakie, and C. F. Allen purchased the Webster Mill at Sabattus, Me., and afterwards acquired the Amesbury mills. In 1878 the firm bought and en- larged the Hyde Park Woollen Company's property. No woollen manufacturing firm in the United States stands higher in the market than Robert Bleakie & Co. Though for years en- grossed in the cares of a large manufac- turing business, Mr. Bleakie has always taken a lively inter- est in the laws that govern trade, and has made for himself a reputation as an original and vigorous thinker on the tariff question, to which he has given much attention. He is an advocate of tariff re- duction and of free raw materials. His published letters on this subject in 1888
ROBERT BLEAKIE.
and in subsequent years have done much toward chang- ing the sentiment of New England manu- facturers on the tariff question. Mr. Bleakie has fre- quently been hon- ored with offices of trust by his fellow- citizens. He is chairman of the Hyde Park Board of Selectmen, president of the Hyde Park Savings Bank, and of the Hyde Park Water Company, and vice- president of the Massachusetts 'Tariff Reform League. He has also been an executive officer of the Woollen Goods Association of New York City. In 1860 Mr. Bleakie married Miss Isabella Henderson, who died in 1880, leaving him three children. In 1882 he married Miss Mary A. Wetherell, by whom he has one son.
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