USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 17
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135
BOSTON.
F FOUR years in succession the Republicans of Boston nominated Thomas Norton Hart for mayor, and twice he was elected, serving in 1889 and 1890. In 1891 he was appointed by President Harrison postmas- ter of Boston, to succeed General Corse, and he has kept the efficiency of the post-office up to the standard set by his predecessors. He was born in North Reading, Mass., Jan. 20, 1829. His father was Daniel Hart, whose ancestors settled in Lynnfield. His mother's
father was Major John Norton, of Royalston, who fought in the Revo- lution. Mr. Hart received a plain edu- cation, such as the country schools afforded in the thir- ties, and when a lad of thirteen he came to Boston to earn his living. He found employment with Wheelock, Pratt & Co., dry goods deal- ers. Two years later, in 1844, he was clerk in a hat store, and subsequently became partner in the firm of Philip A. Locke & Co., in Dock Square. In 1860, Mr. Locke retired from business, and Mr. Hart as- sumed control, form- ing shortly after the well-known firm of Hart, Taylor & Co., which was highly successful. Mr. Hart went out of business in 1878 with a competency. Soon after, he was chosen president of the Mt. Vernon National Bank, of which he is still the head. He was a member of the Boston Common Coun- cil from 1879 to 1881, and of the Board of Aldermen in 1882, 1885 and 1886. His vote for mayor rose steadily from 18,685 to 32,712, the latter being the highest ever polled by a Republican in Boston. It has been said, with much truth, that he commanded the support and
THOMAS NORTON HART
confidence of the people rather than of party men. All his nominations came to him unsought, unbought and unpledged. In making appointments he has always looked to fitness first, and to party afterward. He has treated government as a business, to be conducted on business principles, and with a view to the public good as the first and last consideration. He is an ardent supporter of the civil service laws, and of their loyal application in city, State and nation. For the postal service he laid down the rule that new appointees should generally begin at the foot of the lad- der, and that the advanced positions should be filled by promotion. He believes that the fre- quent collection and quick despatch of mail matter is of equal importance with the frequent and prompt delivery of mails received. The postal service at the stations and in the residence districts, therefore, has re- ceived Postmaster Hart's attention, and the rapid work of the central office has been extended as much as possible to the entire postal dis- trict of Boston. Mr. Hart has been treas- urer of the American Unitarian Association, and an officer of the Church of the Unity. He is a member of the Algonquin and the Hull Yacht clubs. He was married in 1850 to Miss Elizabeth Snow, of Bowdoin, Me. They have one child, a daughter, now the wife of C. W. Ernst, the assistant postmaster of Boston. Mr. Hart enjoys the utmost con- fidence both of politicians and of business men. His administration of the municipal affairs of Boston was able and above all reproach.
136
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
B REVET BRIGADIER-GENERAL NATHAN A. M. DUDLEY, United States Army, was born in Lexington, Mass., Aug. 20, 1825, and was brigade and division inspector of State troops prior to March 3, 1855, on which date he was commissioned first lieutenant, Tenth Infantry, United States Army. He served with the command in the Indian country west of the Missouri River, campaigning against the Sioux, Cheyennes, and other tribes; commanded his company at the bat-
tle of Blue Water ; and in the fall of 1856 explored the country between the Sweetwater and Fort Snelling, Minn., a region untravelled by a white man before. His company formed part of the Utah ex- pedition in 1857 which failed in its mission, and was forced to camp for five months on Black's Fork, re- duced to half rations without salt. Pro- moted to a captaincy on the breaking out of the Civil War, he was ordered to the nation's capital, re- maining in that city until February, 1862, when he obtained leave of absence, to accept the colonelcy of the Thirtieth Mas- sachusetts Regiment, which accompanied General Butler to New Orleans. He was assigned to the command of that city after its occupation. In June he led a successful expedition into the interior of Louisiana from Baton Rouge. He commanded a brigade in the first demonstrations against Vicksburg, directed all the movements on the field at the battle of Baton Rouge, after the fall of General Williams, and was breveted major in the regular army for gallant conduct on that occasion. In December he
NATHAN A. M. DUDLEY.
became inspector-general for the Department of the Gulf, in the spring of 1863 was placed in command of the Third Brigade of Augur's Division at Baton Rouge, successfully conducted an expedition up the Mississippi to open communication with Commodore Farragut, and during the siege of Port Hudson was in command of a large brigade with five batteries of artillery attached, being personally under fire during the entire siege of forty-five days. On the surrender of that stronghold he was ordered to Don- aldsonville with two brigades, and fought the battle of Cox's Plantation. He was chief of staff in Banks's expedition to Texas, organized the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, and com- manded the same in the disastrous Red River Campaign, joined the Nine- teenth Army Corps in the Shenandoah Valley, was ordered in February, 1864, to report to Major- General Thomas, Department of the Cumberland, and placed in command of nine thousand troops at Tullahoma, Tenn., which posi- tion he held until the close of the war. Subsequently he served as commis- sioner of the Freed- men's Bureau. For two years he commanded the dis- trict of Vicksburg. On the reorganization of the army, in 1870, he was assigned to the arm of the cavalry ser- vice employed in the Indian country, and was promoted colonel of the First Cavalry in 1883, which command he retained until his retirement in 1889. General Dudley received five brevets during the war, four in the regular army, for gallant and meritorious services, and accord- ing to his official record was over ninety days under fire.
137
BOSTON.
PRIMARILY, F. E. Orcutt's name is associated with the military history of Massachusetts in the six- ties, but he is not alone known as a war veteran, for of recent years he has figured prominently in the civil and business history of the Commonwealth. Mr. Orcutt was born in Cambridge, Mass., Oct. 10, 1842. His educa- tion in the public schools was supplemented by a course of business study in Eastman's College, at Poughkeep- sie, N. Y., after which he found employment in a book- bindery in Boston. He was a young man when the war broke out ; indeed, the rec- ords in the adjutant- general's office at the State House show that when he enlisted, in June, 1862, in de- fence of the Union, he was only nineteen years old. He went to the front as a member of Company F, Thirty-eighth Massachusetts Vol- unteers, and served in Virginia and Maryland until his regiment was ordered to join the Banks ex- pedition to the De- partment of the Gulf. Eleven months after Mr. Orcutt left home, he was de- tailed for duty at General Banks' head- quarters, and during the expedition above mentioned he served so creditably in the ordnance and engineering depart- ment that he received the commission of lieutenant of engineers. His next work was in connection with the Texas expedition, and he did excellent service on the Rio Grande. After a visit to Mexico, where Maximilian was then reigning, he returned to the Gulf headquarters, where he served until February, 1865, when he was honorably mustered out of service, and immediately went to his home. Mr. Orcutt's first business venture
F. E. ORCUTT.
was in 1874, when he became interested in the custom clothing trade, in the firm of Allen & Orcutt, later Starratt & Orcutt. In 1887 he became financial mana- ger of the Middleton Paper Mill Company, and two years later was appointed by President Harrison collec- tor of internal revenue for the Massachusetts district, a position which he occupies at the present time. To this position and the business lines above indicated Mr. Orcutt has devoted the most of his energies, but they fall far short of telling the story of his active business life. For example, he is the president of the Colorado Farm Loan Company, pres- ident of the Silver Light Gas Company, and a director of the Standard Coal Com- pany. He has always been a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic, and his interest in the welfare of that organization led him to give aid and coun- sel to the work of establishing the "Grand Army Rec- ord," a publication which is printed in Boston. He is a member of the Grand Commandery, Knights Templars, and of the Grand Council Royal and Select Masters, the Red Men, the Royal Arcanum, and other similar bodies. For sixteen years he was auditor of the town of Melrose, Mass., where he resides with his wife, formerly Miss Lucy A. Rhodes, of New Britain, Conn., and his two chil- dren. Mr. Orcutt is a man of commanding presence and is popular with his old comrades and esteemed by the business men of the State. Few men in Massachu- setts have a wider acquaintance in commercial and social circles than he.
138
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
IT is as the friend of the boys and girls of his State that John S. Paine, traveller and philanthropist, would wish to be known, were it not that his aversion to notoriety is so strong that it is difficult to draw from him information of a personal nature. The Cambridge Boys and Girls' Christian Band, now in its ninth year, with a membership of twenty-three hundred, is the crea- tion of Mr. Paine. Its inception being his idea, he has carefully nursed and fostered it until it has become the all-absorbing theme of his life. "I would rather," said Mr. Paine, "have my boys and girls' band than all the honors, political or otherwise, that could be offered to me." All of the expenses of this use- ful and worthy or- ganization are personally borne by him, and he devotes much of his time to its affairs, instructing the children by illus- trated lectures of travel and curious relics from foreign lands. An extensive and experienced trav- eller, Mr. Paine pos- sesses the rare power of making himself peculiarly interesting to children, and as he likes the work, both parties to the ar- rangement are con- tented. John S. Paine was born at Uxbridge, Mass., sixty-eight years ago. . He attended the public school until he was twelve years old, and received the rest of his education at the Uxbridge Academy. At the age of twenty he left his father's farm and entered the country store of P. Whit- ing & Son, at Whitingsville, Mass. After remaining there for two years he came to Boston, where he began his career, his whole capital amounting to considerably less than five dollars. Here he took the quickest means of
JOHN S. PAINE.
acquiring a knowledge of the furniture trade, and soon became a practical cabinet-maker. About forty years ago he entered into a partnership with his brother-in-law, L. B. Shearer, which continued until the death of that gentleman, about twenty-four years ago. Mr. Paine then continued in business for himself in the neighbor- hood in Boston, where his well-known establishment now stands. He conducted his rapidly-growing business alone until seven years ago, when his son, brother and nephew became members of the firm, his nephew, Mr. Shearer, being a son of his former partner. Sixteen years ago Mr. Paine bought the land on which he built the present immense manufac- tory and warehouse. The building is one hundred and fifty feet square, and con- tains seven floors. At one time the firm had branch establish- ments at Chicago, New York and New Orleans. Mr. Paine's marriage has been blessed with threc children, a son and two daughters. In religion he is a Bap- tist, and is deeply in- terested in Chris- tian work. He has been superintendent of Baptist Sunday schools in Cambridge twenty-five years. Mr. Paine is a prominent Prohibi- tionist, but is otherwise independent in politics. He is passionately fond of travel, and has wandered much in foreign countries. He spends his winters in Cuba, where he is as much at home as in Boston. In his business methods Mr. Paine has made it a rule to keep abreast of the times. Integrity comes first in his com- mercial lexicon, after which push and enterprise fol- low. This is the secret of his success.
139
BOSTON.
A S president of a national bank and several large corporations, and with a long and honorable record of public service, Samuel Little is one of the most respected of Boston's business men. He was born in Hingham, Mass., Aug. 15, 1827, the son of Isaac and Sally (Lincoln) Little. His maternal ancestry runs back to Samuel Lincoln, who came from Hingham, England, and settled in Hingham, Mass., in 1637. In his boy- hood Mr. Little attended the Derby Academy at Hing- ham, and after leav- ing school became cashier and book- keeper for Daniell & Co., dry goods dealers, Boston. In 1850, he was made receiving teller in the Bank of Com- merce, then just organized, and three years later, on the organization of the Rockland National Bank, at Roxbury, became its cashier. He was subsequently, upon the death of Samuel Walker, elected president of the bank, a position which he still occu- pies. Mr. Little has long been identified with the street rail- way interests of Bos- ton. He was one of the organizers of the Highland Street Railway in 1872, and its treasurer until its consolidation with the Middlesex Street Railway Com- pany, and since the uniting of all the street railways in Boston in the West End Company, he has been one of the directors of this corporation. Mr. Little is also president of the E. Howard Watch and Clock Company, of the Boston Lead Manufacturing Company, of the Bay State Gas Company and of the Roxbury Gas Light Company, and a director of the Boston, Dorchester, and South Boston Gas Light Companies. He is also a
SAMUEL LITTLE.
trustee of the Roxbury Institution for Savings, and was one of the incorporators of the Roxbury Homeopathic Dispensary. For more than twenty years Mr. Little took an active part in public life. He was a member of the Roxbury Common Council in 1856-57 ; member of the Roxbury Board of Aldermen, 1861-68; mem- ber of the Boston Board of Aldermen (after the annexa- tion of Roxbury), in 1871 and 1872, being chairman of the board the latter year ; member of the Massachusetts House of Represen- tatives from Roxbury in 1864 and 1865, and one of the Board of Directors of Pub- lic Institutions of Boston from 1873 till 1882, and presi- dent of the board from 1877 until his retirement. As one of the State agents for the improvement of the South Boston flats belonging to the Commonwealth, as referee in many notable cases, par- ticularly that of the City of Boston as. the Boston Belting Com- pany, and as trustee and executor of many large estates, Mr. Little has always displayed the quali- ties of a sagacious and honorable busi- ness man. He is past master of Wash- ington Lodge, F. and A. M., past commander of Joseph Warren Commandery, and a member of Mt. Vernon Royal Arch Chapter. Mr. Little was married in Hingham, June 6, 1855, to Eliza- beth, daughter of Micajah and Eliza (Parker) Malbon. He has one son, Arthur Malbon Little, who is treasurer of the E. Howard Watch and Clock Company. Mr. Little's unbroken record of faithful public service and his successful business career place him among the truly representative men of the Commonwealth.
ot 1
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
DE ANIEL ELDREDGE was born at Chatham, Mass., July 7, 1841, his father having been lost at sea a few months prior to his birth. The widowed mother moved to Dedham, Mass., during the infancy of Daniel, and his boyhood days were nearly all passed in that historic town. He attended the grammar school there, his teacher for a part of the time being the late Charles A. Richardson, of the Congregationalist, Boston. The opening of the Civil War found him in New Hamp- shire, and he enlisted at Lebanon, in that State, Aug. 2, 1861, as a member of the Third Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers, being assigned to Company K, the members of which were princi- pally from Dover. He followed the for- tunes of the regiment at the seat of war until Aug. 16, 1864, when he received a severe wound in the left forearm which ended his service in the field. He was in action at Seces- sionville, James Isl- and, June 16, 1862, at the capture of Morris Island, July 10, 1863, and par- ticipated in the memorable charge on Fort Wagner, July 18, 1863, where he was slightly wounded in the foot. He was placed on detached service at Concord, N. H., in which he spent the latter part of 1863, returning to his regiment in January, 1864. He participated in the battles of Drury's Bluff, May 13, 14, 15 and 16, 1864, and in the several actions of his regi- ment during the summer of 1864, until receiving the wound that incapacitated him for further active service at the front. After spending some time first at the Chesapeake Hospital, near Fortress Monroe, and later
in the Officers' Hospital at Annapolis, he obtained a leave of absence. In December, 1864, he was assigned to duty at Concord, N. H., although his arm was in a sling and his wound still unhealed. In May, 1865, he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps and or- dered to join Company A, Third Regiment, of that corps, at New Haven, Conn., serving there, and later at Hartford. He was discharged June 30, 1866, his ser- vices being no longer required. He rose from a private through the interme- diate grades to the rank of captain. In 1870 he located in Boston, in which city he now resides, and in 1877, with others, assisted the Hon. Josiah Quincy in es- tablishing in Massa- chusetts the building association system, now known as co- operative banks. He was the first sec- retary of the Pioneer Co-operative Bank, the first co-operative bank organized un- der the Massachu- setts law, and since that time has been largely identified with the business generally, being at present secretary and treasurer of three large banks - Pioneer, Homestead and Guardian- which) occupy one office, and the combined assets of which reach nearly $1,000,000. Enjoying the reputation of an expert in his particular business, his service and counsel are sought by many. He is a member of the Masonic fra- ternity, Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. To the development of co-operative banks in Massachusetts, which have proved such a boon to workingmen, Mr. Eldredge has contributed not a little.
DANIEL ELDREDGE.
141
BOSTON.
TO that class of earnest workers for the good of their fellow-men belongs Mr. Robert Treat . Paine, who for more than a score of years has devoted a goodly share of his time and fortune to the advancement of philanthropic and humanitarian enterprises. The scion of a well-known New England family,- his great-grand- father signed the Declaration of Independence,- Mr. Paine was born in Boston, Oct. 28, 1835, the son of Charles Cushing and Fanny Cabot (Jackson) Paine. He graduated from the Boston Latin School at the age of fifteen. In 1851 he entered Harvard, graduating with hon- ors in 1855. A year's study in the Harvard Law School followed, and then two years of travel and study in Europe. Returning in 1858, Mr. Paine resumed the study of law. Admitted
to the bar in 1859, he practised until 1870, when the fortune which he had amassed permitted him, at the age of thirty-five, to retire from active business. He be- came one of the com- mittee that had charge of the build- ing of Trinity Church. In 1878 he helped to organize the Associ- ated Charities of Boston, and was chosen and remains its first president. This society introduced new methods of charity in dealing with distress, which have won the approval of all classes. Many other cities when about to start their Associated Charities have come to Boston, and to Mr. Paine, for information. In 1879 Mr. Paine organized the Wells Memorial Workingmen's Institute, which has become the largest workingmen's club in the United States. It embraces a loan association, a co-operative bank and a
ROBERT TREAT PAINE.
building association. Of these allied organizations Mr. Paine is president. He also originated the Working- men's Loan Association, the success of which venture is fully established. In 1891 Mr. Paine was elected presi- dent of the American Peace Society. He has built over two hundred small houses sold on easy credits, and originated the Workingmen's Building Association, which has built in the same way over one hundred houses. He helped to introduce the system of co-operative banks into Massachu- setts. In 1884 Mr. Paine represented Waltham in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and was the candi- date for Congress in the fifth Massachu- setts district. He is a member of the ves- try of Trinity church ; of the executive com- mittee of the Epis- copal City Mission ; trustee of donations to the Protestant Episcopal church ; member of the Soci- ety for the Suppres- sion of Vice, and vice-president of the Children's Aid Soci- ety. In 1887 he endowed a ten thou- sand dollar fellowship in Harvard College, "to ameliorate the lot of the mass of mankind." In 1890 Mr. and Mrs. Paine created and endowed a trust of about two hundred thousand dollars, called the Robert Treat Paine Associ- ation. The trust deeds provide that these charities are to be always carried on by the founders and their chil- dren. Mr. Paine has published many pamphlets and addresses, all of them dealing with social problems. He was married in 1862 to Lydia Williams Lyman, grand- daughter of Theodore Lyman, the distinguished Boston merchant. Seven children have been born of this union.
142
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
TO O the mechanical genius and business enterprise of George Leonard Damon, president of the Damon Safe and Iron Works Company, is largely due the high stage of development which the safe industry has attained in America. He was born in Stoughton, Mass., July 15, 1843, the son of Leonard and Elizabeth P. (Linfield) Damon. His early education was obtained in the pub- lic schools of Stoughton and of East Boston, whither his parents removed when he was twelve years old. After graduating from the Adams School, in 1861, he went to the Harrison Loring Works in South Bos- ton as apprentice, his special aim being to qualify himself as a mechanical engi- neer for the con- struction of marine engines, the build- ing of vessels, and all kinds of iron steamship work. His progress was so marked that on the completion of his apprenticeship he re- ceived a responsible position from Charles Staples & Son, of Portland, Me., who had obtained a con- tract for the con- struction of a light- draught monitor. In 1866, with others, he bought out the safe manufacturing busi- ness in Boston of the Tremont Safe Company. After conducting that business two years and a half the firm sold out to the American Steam Safe Company, and Mr. Damon returned to Portland and was made a partner with C. Staples & Son, where he did a large amount of special designing of stationary and marine engine work and added to his reputation as a mechanical engineer. In 1870 he was induced to return to Boston to take charge of the manufacturing department of the American Steam
GEORGE L. DAMON.
Safe Company, successors of the old firm of Denio & Roberts, and four years later bought out the entire plant. Since then his business has steadily increased, until now he has the manufactory in Cambridgeport, and has also established a large plant in Philadelphia, giving constant employment to two hundred men. Mr. Damon has con- structed vaults for most of the banks and safe deposit companies in New England, and for several years fur- nished all the work of this class ordered by the United States Treasury De- partment. The large vaults in use by the Treasury Depart - ment at Washington and every sub-treas- ury vault in the country, including those in San Fran- cisco, have been con- structed by Mr. Damon. In the seventies, at the re- quest of Secretary of the Treasury Bris- tow, he remodelled the United States Treasury vaults at New York. All the labor, requiring a number of workmen, had to be performed outside of business hours, and during the whole time of reconstruction nearly two hundred million dollars were stored 7 in the vaults con- stantly within arms' reach of the work- men. Mr. Damon safely accomplished the task without a cent of loss and to the great satisfaction of the government officials. The numerous safes and vaults in the great Exchange Building, the Boston Safe Deposit Company, Old Colony Trust Company, and Bay State Trust Com- pany, were of his construction. A consolidation of all the safe manufacturing interests of the country has just been effected, with a capital of five million dollars, and Mr. Damon has been elected its treasurer.
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