USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 21
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EDWARD AVERY.
167
BOSTON.
M ODERN journalism in Boston dates from March 7, 1878. That was not the natal day of the Boston Globe, but on that date it was reorganized, rejuvenated, resurrected almost, and, under the man- agement of Charles H. Taylor, started on a dazzling career which has few, if any, parallels in American jour- nalism. In many respects, General Taylor's life has been a noteworthy one. It has been a display of heroic industry, zest, ambition, the bravest self-reliance, - and from slight begin- nings he has achieved much. He was born in Charlestown, Mass., July 14, 1846, the son of John I. and Abigail R. ( Hap- good) Taylor. He left school at the age of fifteen, and went to work in a Boston printing-office, where he learned the trade of a compositor. A year later, when he was employed in the Traveller office, he enlisted in the Thirty-eighth Mas- sachusetts Regiment, and served in the field until wounded in the memorable as- sault on Port Hud- son, June 14, 1863. Returning to Boston, he re-entered the Traveller office, and soon made his mark as a reporter. He mastered the diffi- culties of shorthand, and did much notable work as a stenographer. As Boston correspondent of the New York Tribune and the Cincinnati Times, he earned con- siderable reputation. In 1869 he became private sec- retary to Governor Claflin, and a member of the latter's military staff, with the rank of colonel, and as " Colonel Taylor" he has since been known throughout New England, though by the more recent appointment of Governor Russell he is now properly addressed as
CHARLES H. TAYLOR.
General Taylor. In 1872 he was elected to the House of Representatives from Somerville, and was re-elected the following year, receiving the unusual honor on both occasions of being the unanimous choice of his fellow- citizens, regardless of party lines. He was elected clerk of the House in 1873, and served until August of that year, when he took charge of the Boston Globe, then a new paper, which had been started about a year before, and which was struggling hard to obtain a foot- hold among the old Boston dailies. For nearly five years Colonel Taylor had an uphill struggle, and in that period he suffered enough discouragements to have completely dis- heartened any ordi- nary man. The Globe in those days was narrow, ex- tremely literary, and correspondingly un- remunerative. On March 7, 1878, Colonel Taylor took a bold step and re- organized the Globe as a Democratic two- cent daily paper, con- ducted on popular lines and appealing to the many instead of the few. Since that time it has been one of the marvels of American journalism, following up one original stroke with another, until its influence has completely revolutionized the press of Boston, and attaining a circulation which is conceded by all to be the largest in New England. General Taylor was married in 1866 to Georgiana O., daughter of George W. and L. F. Davis, of Charlestown. He spent the summer of 1891 in Europe, and during his absence his eldest son, C. H. Taylor, Jr. (who is now business manager), conducted alone the enormous business of the paper.
I68
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
B RYCE J. ALLAN, the only representative in Boston of the Allan Line of Royal Mail Steamships, is one of the figures in commercial and social life. He was born in 1862 in Montreal, Canada, the third son of Sir Hugh Allan, and from his youth has shown an apti- tude for business. He came to Boston about ten years ago, and entered the office of H. & A. Allan, agents in this city of the Allan Line. After familiarizing himself with the business he succeeded to the agency in June, 1892, when he was made manager of the Boston office. Mr. Allan has been prominent in the social events of the city. Though he is unmarried, his home on Beacon Street in Boston and his new and beautiful cottage at Pride's Crossing, Beverly Farms, are well known as resorts of fashion and cul- ture. Under his management the business of the Allan Line in this city has prospered greatly, and his is to-day foremost among the steamship agencies in New England. Mr. Allan's career in Boston has been so intimately connected with the Allan Line that some mention of that enterprise is fitting here. Cap - tain Alexander Allan, a native of Saltcoats, Ayrshire, was the founder of the line. He was commander of the ship "Jean," and won a reputation for faithful perform- ance of all contracts and quick and safe passages. In 1815, he ran the "Jean" from the Clyde to the St. Law- rence, and established a connection between these great rivers which has continued unbroken to this day. Ship after ship was added until Captain Allan was at the head of quite a fleet of packets. Two of his sons were sca-
faring men, and he made another son, Sir Hugh, a busi- ness man. A change in the transatlantic service was made in 1850, when the British government desired some firm to establish a fleet of screw steamers to carry regularly the mails from Liverpool to Canada. The Allans entered into the project, made all necessary arrangements, and submitted an offer to the govern- ment. For some reason the offer was rejected, and the contract was given to a Glasgow house. It did not give satisfaction, and in 1853 the contract was awarded to the Allans, who have held it since. In 1859 the service was greatly increased, and since then the fleet has been strengthened by new vessels and various improvements, until the Allan Line is second, in point of perfection, to no ocean mail service in the world. In 1862 the Newfound- land mails were taken, and in the same year the com- pany loaded vessels at Baltimore. In 1876 a Uruguay ser- vice was established, in 1879 offices opened in Boston, and in 1884 a Phila- delphia connection made. In 1890 the Messrs. Allan pur- chased the State line of steamships and opened an office in New York, having a weekly service between that port and Glasgow. The fleet at present consists of nearly fifty vessels, and the company controls and operates seven direct services between Europe and the United States and Canada. The name of Allan is indissolubly connected with the business of transatlantic steam trans- portation, and few firms have enjoyed such an uninter- rupted career of prosperity.
BRYCE J. ALLAN.
169
BOSTON.
A SSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE WILLIAM FISHER WHARTON, who during the last three years has handled many of the nation's delicate and complicated diplomatic affairs with such skill, is a typical Bostonian. He is the son of William Craig and Nancy W. (Spring) Wharton, and was born at Jamaica Plain, June 28, 1847. When a boy he attended Epes Sargent Dixwell's school, Boston. He entered Harvard College in 1867, and was graduated in the class of 1870 with honors in Latin, Greek and ancient history. He studied law in the office of John C. Ropes and John C. Gray for a year, then attended the Harvard Law School two years, and was graduated in 1873, being ad- mitted to the Suffolk bar the same year. He then travelled in Europe until the au- tumn of 1875, when he returned to Bos- ton and began the practice of law, which he continued until April, 1889, when he was ap- pointed by President Harrison assistant secretary of state of the United States. He served five suc- cessive terms in the Boston Common Council, 1880 to 1884 inclusive, early developing a talent and tact for leadership among the minority of that body, where his indefatigable and dig- nified efforts saved his party from overwhelming disas- ter. From 1885 to 1888, inclusive, he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, serving in 1885 as House chairman of the Committee on Cities, and as member of the Committee on Rules of the House ; and in 1886 and 1887 as House chairman of the Committee on Railroads, and of the Joint Commit-
WILLIAM F. WHARTON.
tee on Rules and chairman of the Committee on House Rules ; and in 1888 as chairman of the Judi- ciary Committee and the Committee on House Rules, and House chairman of the Committee on Joint Rules. In 1883 he was appointed by the mayor of Boston one of the commissioners to revise the ordi- nances of the city. Before his appointment to his present position he had made international law a special study for many years, and had written a treatise on the subject. He is also the editor of the second edition of "Story on Partner- ship." As assistant secretary of state Mr. Wharton has had partial or entire charge of many diffi- cult negotiations, in- volving the interest and the good name of the United States. During the illness of Secretary Blaine Mr. Wharton was for several months the acting head of the Department of State, and his handling of the Chilian negotia- tions, the Bering Sea difficulties, the Canadian fisheries question and other matters has placed him in the front rank of diplomats. Mr. Wharton is a mem- ber of the Somerset, Union and other leading clubs of Boston. Though he has always been recognized as a thorough Republican he is regarded by his political opponents as one whose manliness and independence are sufficient to cause him to be governed by his sense of right, irrespective of the demands of party. These qualities have endeared him to a wide circle of friends, both in New England and at Washing- ton. Mr. Wharton was married to Miss Fanny Pickman. of Boston, who died in 1880.
170
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
A S medical practitioner and author, Henry O. Marcy, A. M., M. D., LL. D., has won an international reputation. He was born in Otis, Mass., June 23, 1837. His ancestry dates back to the early settlers of Massa- chusetts Bay, and they were prominent participants in the development of the new country. Great-grand- father and son fought side by side in the Revolution, while Dr. Marcy's father, at the age of eighteen, was a a soldier in the War of 1812. Dr. Marcy received his preparatory and clas- sical education at Wesleyan Academy in Wilbraham, and at Amherst College. Graduating from the medical department of Harvard in 1863, he was at once com- missioned as assis- tant surgeon in the Forty-third Massa- chusetts Volunteers, and served with distinction until the close of the war, having been pro- moted from surgeon of brigade and divis- ion to a medical di- rectorship. Dr Marcy married Miss Sarah E. Wendell, of Great Falls, N. H., and settled in Cam- bridge. In 1869, accompanied by his wife, he went to Eu- rope and entered the University of Berlin, devoting himself largely to the study of surgery, and in 1870 became the first American pupil of Professor Lister, of Edinburgh. Convinced of the correctness and value of the princi- ples of the antiseptic methods of wound treatment, Dr. Marcy became at once the ardent advocate of the then revolutionary methods of surgical procedure. Hle es- tablished a hospital, for the demonstration of the new teaching, which is still successfully conducted. Since 1876 he has been an annual contributor of scientific
papers to the American Medical Association. At the International Medical Congress in London in 1881, he was invited to open the discussion, before the most dis- tinguished body of surgeons ever assembled, in defence of the principles of antiseptic surgery. In 1884 he pub- lished a translation of the works of the late Professor Ercolani, of Bologna. Dr. Marcy was one of the presi- dents of the International Medical Congress, held in Washington in 1887. He is a member, active or honor- ary, of many of the special medical so- cieties in Europe and America, and is an officer and active promoter of the Pan- American Congress which convenes in Washington in 1893. In 1884 he was president of the American Academy of Medicine, and in 1887 Wesleyan Uni- versity conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. His best known publications are : "Plastic Splints in Surgery" (1877) ; "Aspiration of the Knee Joint" (1879) ; "Histological Studies of the Development of the Osseous Cal- lous in Man and Ani- mals" (1881) ; "Cure of Hernia by the Antiseptic Use of the Animal Suture" (1878); "Best Methods of Operative Wound Treatment" (1882) ; "Comparative Value of Germicides" (1880) ; " Rela- tions of Micro-Organisms to Sanitary Science " (1883) ; " Medical Legislation " (1885) ; "Surgical Advantages of the Buried Animal Suture" (1888) : "Histological and Surgical Treatment of the Uterine Myoma" (1882). His latest publication, issued in 1892, is a quarto volume on the "Anatomy and Surgical Treatment of Hernia." Dr. Marcy resides at No. 180 Commonwealth Avenue.
HENRY O. MARCY.
17I
BOSTON.
A LIFE story which will repay attention is that of John Oscar Teele, son of Samuel and Ellen Chace (Clough) Teele, born in Wilmot, N. H., July 18, 1839. The family on his father's side is of Swiss origin, and on his mother's side, English. Early in the seventeenth century two brothers named Tell came from the Canton of Berne, Switzerland, and settled in Massachusetts, from the elder of whom Mr. Teele is descended. For two or three generations the name Tell was retained, as shown by records of real estate transfers, but for some reason was changed to Teel. Mr. Teele added the final "e" in 1867, simply as a matter of taste, and that change has since been adopted by all per- sons of that name in Massachusetts so far as known. He was fitted for college at the New Hampton and New London (N. H.) academies. He voted for Presi- dent Lincoln in 1860, and then went immediately to New Orleans to engage in teaching for a while before proceeding with his college course. While in New Orleans he em- ployed his spare time in reading law in the office of Judah P. Benjamín. Staying through the exciting times of the secession of States and until his friends in the South could no longer protect him from being drafted into the Confederate Army, he left for the North in the summer of 1861, passing through Tennessee and Kentucky on the last train which was allowed to go through until the close of the war. He entered the offices of . the late Judge George W. Nesmith and Pike & Barnard, Franklin, N. H., and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in 1862. In that
JOHN O. TEELE.
year he enlisted with a Dartmouth College company which formed part of a Rhode Island squadron of cav- alry. He was serving as clerk of a court martial at Winchester, Va., when that place was abandoned in September, 1862, the force retiring to Harper's Ferry. He was one of the body of cavalry that escaped from Harper's Ferry the night before the surrender to Gen- eral Jackson, two days before the battle of Antietam. He commenced the practice of law at Hillsboro Bridge, N. H., in 1863, as a partner of Hon. James F. Briggs ; was treasurer of Hillsboro County for two or three years, and re- moved to Boston in 1867. In 1868 he formed a partnership with the late attor- ney-general, Hon. Charles R. Train, which continued un- til Mr. Train's death, in 1885. His prac- tice has been large and successful, with no specialty, except perhaps in advising towns and business corporations. Mr. Teele is a director in the Winnisimmet Company, the Atlas Mutual Insurance Company, the C. & K. Company, of Bal- lardvale, and other corporations. He was a member of the lower House of the Massachusetts Legislature in 1886 and 1887, serving on the Judiciary Committee, and declining to run for a third term. He was advanced two years for Dartmouth College, but his college course was interrupted by the war. He received his degree, however, from that col- lege after the close of the war. He was married in February, 1868, to Mary Page Smith, daughter of the late Lewis Smith, of Waltham. They have one child living, a son now in Harvard College.
172
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
B OSTON'S brilliant young sculptor, Henry Hudson · Kitson, has already cut for himself a niche in the temple of fame. Not yet thirty years of age, he is an artist of great promise. He was born near Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, April 9, 1864. He was one of a large family, several of whom have since risen to distinc- tion in the realm of literature, sculpture, or painting. As a boy he attended evening classes at the Mechanics' Institute at Huddersfield when but eight years old. Before his twelfth year he had taken several prizes, among them that given by the Institute for design. In 1877, when just thirteen years of age, young Kitson came to America and began work with his brother in New York on the Astor memorial for Trinity Church. It was during these years of practical work in the cutting of stone that the young sculptor gained the knowledge and control of tools that has since distin- guished him. Dur- ing this period young Kitson did much work in conjunction with his brother on the art decorations of the principal pa- latial residences of New York. In 1882 Mr. Kitson entered the Ecole des Beaux Arts and the École des Arts Décoratifs, at Paris. In the Salon of 1883, he exhibited his first bust from life, that of his friend, Angelo Schütze, musician and painter. The bust of Amour, a sweet-faced child, was executed this year. At the Beaux Arts he worked in the ateliers Dumont and Bonnassieux, and at the Arts Décoratifs with Millet and Gautier. About this time was commenced the " Music of the Sea," which appeared in the Salon of 1884 and
HENRY H. KITSON.
drew forth universal admiration. This exquisite work is at present in the collection of Mrs. David P. Kimball, of Boston. "The Fisherman's Wife" and the "Singing Girl," both admirable, were modelled at this time. Returning to America, Mr. Kitson made a bust of John Mccullough, the actor, from a death mask taken at Phila- delphia. Later he modelled the beautiful and delicate bas-relief of Easter, the portrait of Miss Ruggles (Salon,'88) and the statue of the late Mayor Doyle, of Providence. Mr. Kitson was com- missioned by the Roumanian Govern- ment to execute a portrait bust of Queen Elizabeth (Carmen Sylva), for which he was deco- rated Commander of the Royal Order of Bene Merenti, and also received the Queen's medal. From the American Art Association and from the Massachu- setts Charitable Mechanic Associa- tion he has received gold medals, and the only medal awarded for sculpture in the American Section at the Universal Expo- sition in Paris, in 1889, was awarded to him. He mod- elled for the Drexels of Philadelphia a life- size figure of Christ on the cross. He has executed many other works of merit, his range being very extensive. The most recent public works which Mr. Kitson has completed are the statue of Admiral Farragut, for the city of Boston, and the foun- tain for the Dyer Memorial in Providence. Mr. Kitson is a member of the Ethnographical Society and of the Société Américaine de France. An artist by predilection, his scope has been enlarged by study and travel, and his method enriched by worthy association.
I73
BOSTON.
C ARROLL DAVIDSON WRIGHT, United States commissioner of labor, and one of the foremost statisticians of the country, was born in Dunbarton, N. H., July 25, 1840. He was educated in New Hamp- shire and Vermont, and began the study of law, but at the beginning of the Civil War gave it up to enlist in the Fourteenth New Hampshire Regiment, of which he became colonel in December, 1864. He served as acting assistant adjutant-general under General Sheri- dan, resigning in March, 1865, and in October of the same year was admitted to the bar of New Hampshire. Being in ill health, Mr. Wright decided upon a change of resi- dence, and moved to Massachusetts. Dur- ing 1871-72 he was a member of the Senate of this State, at which time he se- cured the passage of a bill to provide for the establishment of workingmen's trains to Boston from the suburban districts. From 1873 to 1888 Mr. Wright was chief of the State Bureau of Statistics of La- bor, and in 1880 was appointed supervisor of the United States census in Massachu- setts ; he was also special agent of the census on the factory system. The Bureau of Labor in the Interior Department at Washington was created in June, 1884, and in January, 1885, Mr. Wright was made the first commissioner, which position he now holds. The governor of Massachusetts, in 1885, gave him a commission to investigate the records of the towns, parishes, counties and courts of the State, and the work was carried on energetically and with good results. Colonel Wright was a Republican presidential elector in
CARROLL D. WRIGHT.
1876, and has had charge of the decennial census in the State of Massachusetts in 1875 and 1885. During 1879 he was lecturer on phases of the labor question, eth- ically considered, at the Lowell Institute in Boston, and in 1881 was university lecturer at Harvard, on the fac- tory system. Mr. Wright has also been recording sec- retary of the American Social Science Association, and is a member of a number of scientific societies. In 1883 he received the degree of A. M. from Tufts College. Colonel Wright has published a number of books of great value, deal- ing chiefly with labor problems, in which he is deeply inter- ested. His works include : " Annual Reports of the Mas- sachusetts Bureau of Statistics of Labor" (fifteen volumes, Boston, 1873-88) ; "Census of Massa- chusetts " (three vol- umes, 1876-77) ; "The Statistics of Boston" (1882) : "The Factory Sys- tem of the United States " ( Washing- ton, 1882) ; "The Census of Massachu- setts " (four vol- umes, Boston, 1887- 88) ; "Reports of United States Com- missioner of Labor," including "Indus- trial Depressions " (Boston, 1882) ; "The Factory System as an Element in Civilization " (1882) ; "Scientific Basis of Tariff Legislation" (1884) ; "The Present Actual Condition of the Workingman" (1887) ; "The Study of Statistics in Colleges" (1887) ; "Problems of the Census " (1887) ; "Hand Labor in Prisons" (1887) ; "Histor- ical Sketch of the Knights of Labor " (1887) ; "The Growth and Purposes of Bureaus of Statistics of Labor" (1888).
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
"THE Nestor of Massachusetts Democracy," as General Patrick A. Collins once styled him, is Charles Levi Woodbury. In his seventy-second year, he is still as alert and vigorous as if he were only twenty-five, and as close an observer, and as shrewd a student of politics as when he did his first active cam- paign work for James K. Polk in 1844, and later for Franklin Pierce in 1852. Descended from John Wood- bury, one of the early pioneers who settled on Cape Ann in 1624, Charles Levi Woodbury was born in Portsmouth, Rockingham County, N. H., May 22, 1820. When he was eleven years of age he re- moved to Washing- ton with his father's family, and received his early education in the capital city of the nation. After his admission to the bar in the Dis- trict of Columbia, Mr. Woodbury prac- tised in Alabama, and some time later came to Boston, where he has been in active practice ever since. His chief practice has been in the Circuit Courts of the United States, and in the Supreme Court at Washington, while throughout the entire country he is recog- nized as one of the ablest expounders of constitutional as well as of international law now living. In 1853 Mr. Woodbury declined the mission to Bolivia, which was tendered to him by President Franklin Pierce. He was elected as a representative to the State Legislature of New Hampshire in 1857. In the same year he was appointed United States district attorney for Massachu- setts. Mr. Woodbury was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1870 and 1871. He has never aspired
CHARLES LEVI WOODBURY.
to political office, although, in addition to his lifelong devotion to the principles of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, with the latter of whom he was per- sonally acquainted, he has often held important posi- tions in Democratic organizations, and has been a frequent speaker in defence of the principles of the Democratic party in presidential campaigns. He is a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and an honorary member of the historical societies of Maine and New Hamp- shire. Mr. Wood- bury has held high offices in the York and Scottish rites of the Masonic organi- zation, and is now second officer of the Supreme Council of the latter body, as well as a member of the Board of Trus- tees of the Grand Lodge of Massachu- setts. Mr. Wood- bury has also done considerable legal literary work, being one of the compilers of three volumes of "Woodbury and Minot's Reports," and editor of the second and third volumes of "Levi Woodbury's Writ- ings." On the ques- tion of the fisheries, which has led to so much discussion be- tween this country and Canada, Mr. Woodbury is one of the foremost authorities in the United States, and he has published several volumes dealing with this and other questions involving our diplomatic relations with Great Britain. He is also an authority on antiquarian, masonic, political and historical subjects, on which he has from time to time delivered numerous speeches and orations. In Boston, as well as in Washington, Mr. Woodbury has long been a conspicuous and familiar figure.
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