USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 28
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HENRY L. PIERCE.
223
BOSTON.
T THE improved methods of heating buildings by steam, and of ventilating them by "fan blowers," now so extensively used throughout the United States, owe their origin and much of their development to James J. Walworth. He was born, Nov. 18, 1808, in Canaan, N. H., the son of George and Philura (Jones) Walworth, and is in direct descent from Sir William Walworth, who was lord mayor of London at the time of the Wat Tyler rebellion, in 1381. Mr. Walworth was educated in the public schools of his native town, and in the 'Thetford (Vt.) and Salisbury (N. H.) academies. He taught school three winters, and at the age of twenty came on foot to Boston. For ten years he was engaged in the hardware busi- ness, and in 1841, with his brother-in- law, Joseph Nason, under the firm name of Walworth & Nason, established the business of steam and hot-water warm- ing and ventilating buildings by radi- cally new methods. Beginning in New York, and a year later starting a plant in Boston, the two concerns have been continued, though with some changes, until the present day. In 1844 Mr. Nason conceived the idea of using small wrought-iron tubes for steam warming. This was entirely different from anything previously attempted. The construction of apparatus for warming buildings, especially manufactories, was immediately begun and rapidly extended, soon becom- ing the type of steam warming in large structures, to the exclusion of all other methods. Immediately fol- lowing this came a new system of ventilation by the use
JAMES J. WALWORTH.
of the "fan blower," propelled by steam power, which is now recognized as the most effective and economic method, especially in hospitals, churches, theatres, halls, etc. This system was first introduced by Walworth & Nason in 1846, and in that year was applied to the Custom House in Boston, and since then to numerous public buildings in nearly every State in the Union. Several of the State capitols have been warmed and ventilated upon this principle. Though Mr. Walworth has been the business head of the concern, yet, as engineer in steam-heating and ventilating, he has designed and exe- cuted many impor- tant works. In 1852 the firm of Walworth & Nason was dis- solved, Mr. Wal- worth continuing business alone, and later admitting Marshall S. Scudder and C. Clark Wal- worth as partners. In 1872 the Wal- worth Manufacturing Company was organ- ized, with a paid-up capital of $400,000, and with Mr. Wal- worth as president, a position which he retained until his resignation in 1890. The company owns an extensive plant at South Boston, em- ploying here and elsewhere upwards of eight hundred workmen. Mr. Walworth is president of many other large business cor- porations. He was one of the founders of Lasell Seminary. In 1870 and 1871 he was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature. He has been twice married. His first wife was Elizabeth Chickering Nason. His present wife was Mrs. Lydia Sawyer. He has one son, who is president of the Walworth Construction and Supply Company. 1
224
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
IN
IN the fruit trade, as in every other branch of com- merce, the tendency toward consolidation is plainly evident. The fruit trade of Boston has not only grown to far vaster proportions in the last ten years, but it is managed on entirely different lines, and what were for- merly separate, and often antagonistic, interests are now all harmoniously combined under one management. The Boston Fruit Company is the only concern in the country which owns its own plantations, - they are situ- ated in Jamaica, and contain about thirty- seven thousand acres in all, -imports its own products in its own line of steamers, and deals direct with both the retailer and jobber. It is a stu- pendous business which has grown up within a very few years and has com- pletely revolution- ized the system of handling fruit. Five steamers are kept busy bringing the products of the com- pany from Jamaica to Boston. The man- ager of the Boston Fruit Company is Andrew Woodbury Preston, one of Bos- ton's successful men of affairs. He was born June 29, 1846, at Beverly Farms, Mass., the son of Benjamin and Sarah Preston. Ile is of old New England stock, being descended from one of three brothers who came from England and settled in Massachusetts early in the seventeenth century. Mr. Preston attended the grammar school in Beverly until he was sixteen years old. Three years of farm life fol- lowed, after which he went into the shoe manufacturing business and remained in it until his health failed. In September, 1867, he came to Boston and went to work for Charles Kimball & Co., produce merchants, being
their buyer in Maine the following year. In 1869 he became connected with Seaverns & Co., fruit and prod- uce dealers, continuing with this firm until 1888. In 1885 he became interested in an association of mer- chants, formed for the purpose of buying fruit in the West Indies. Out of this association grew the Boston Fruit Company, which was organized in 1888 and in- corporated in 1890. During the winters of 1885 and 1886 Mr. Preston was in New Orleans, representing the interests of Boston fruit merchants. In the winter of 1887 he visited Jamaica with parties inter- ested, and assisted in the organization of the Boston Fruit Company. In 1888 he was made its as- sistant general man- ager, and in the fol- lowing year became general manager. He is an active mem- ber of the Boston Fruit and Produce Exchange and of the Chamber of Com- merce ; is a director in the Traders Na- tional Bank, and president of the Simpson Spring Company, of South Easton, Mass. He has also been inter- ested in the teaming business since 1874, being a partner in the firm of M. D. Cressy & Co., which owns about fifty teams. Mr. Pres- ton is a member of the order of Odd Fellows, and is a Freemason of the thirty-second degree and a prom- inent Knight Templar. For two years he was secretary of the Boston Marketmen's Republican Club, one of the vigorous political organizations of the city. In 1869 he married Miss Fanny Gutterson, of Brookline. They have one child living, - a daughter. Mr. Preston resides in a beautiful home in Brookline.
ANDREW W. PRESTON
225
BOSTON.
J JAMES WEMYSS, JR., prominently known through his connection with the British American and other societies and as a business man, is a Scotchman by birth, and came to the United States early in life to seek his fortune. He has found it, but not without a struggle. From the bench to the head of a furniture firm, doing a business with the leading houses all over the United States and Canada, and a social place of no insignificant standing, is the record he has to show. Mr. Wemyss was born in Hawick, Roxbury- shire, Scotland, a small town locally noted for its manu- facture of woollens and stockings, in 1840. The first fourteen years of his life were spent on the banks of the Tiviot, receiving such education as the vicinity and his worldly condition al- lowed. He came to America in 1854, and for thirteen years worked at the bench in the furniture trade. In 1867 he and his brother started a furniture manufactur- ing business in this city on a very small scale. His practical knowledge of the details, gained in his long apprenticeship at the bench, served him in good stead, and under his guidance the firm steadily developed until it has become one of the leading manufactories of fine furniture in the country. In the social world Mr. Wemyss is an Odd Fellow, a Mason of high standing, and a leader in the State of the British American citi- zens. For five consecutive years he was president of the Scots' Charitable Society, a position which is esteemed the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a Boston Scotchman by his fellow-countrymen. He at one time
held the presidency of five organizations, - the British American Association of the State of Massachusetts, Branch 37 of the British American Society, the Scots' Charitable Society, the Boston Curling Club, and the Hawick Club. Mr. Wemyss's part in the celebration of the Queen's Jubilee in Boston, June 21, 1887, brought him into considerable prominence. He was chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, which consisted of representatives of the different societies throughout the State. Faneuil Hall was selected as the place in which to hold the festivities. This aroused the antagonism of cer- tain persons who did not think the " Cradle of Liberty " the proper place for such a gathering. The banquet was held, nevertheless, despite objections and even threats, and Mr. Wemyss presided in the face of warnings that per- sonal violence would follow his attempt to do so. The outcome of this affair was the birth of the British American Associa- tions, which, origi- nating as a protest against this jubilee demonstration, have extended all over the country. Mr. Wemyss was presi- dent of the State organization for three years, and was afterwards elected president of the national organiza- tion. Mr. Wemyss, while of course retaining his love for the dear old land of his birth, is a thorough believer in American institutions and principles, and is first, last and always loyal to the land of his adoption. Mr. Wemyss was married in Boston, twenty-six years ago. His connection with the various organizations above referred to has made his name widely known.
JAMES WEMYSS.
226
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
IN finance, as well as in politics, law and mercantile affairs, the young men of Massachusetts have achieved distinguished triumphs. The changes that have taken place during the last decade or two in business methods, the consolidation of vast financial and commercial inter- ests, and the rapid development of the banking business in so many new directions, have brought into prominence men who have not only made enormous fortunes out of changing conditions, but have wielded a powerful influ- ence in the financial, and consequently in the entire commer- cial, world. Such a man is Frederick Henry Prince. He is one of an illustrious family, which as long ago as 1584 was prominent in Eng- land, living at that time in Shrewsbury upon their estate, known as "Abbey Foregate," John Prince being then rector of East Shef- field. In 1633 his son, Elder John Prince, came to this country and settled in Hull, Mass. His grandson, Thomas Prince, graduated from Harvard College in 1707, and in 1717 was ordained co - pastor with Dr. Sew- ell of the Old South Church, in Boston. Mr. Prince's great- grandfather, James Prince, well known in his day and generation as a prominent merchant, was appointed by President Jefferson as naval officer of the port of Bos- ton, and afterward as United States marshal for the district of Massachusetts. Mr. Prince is the son of Frederick Octavius and Helen (Henry) Prince, and was born in Winchester, Mass., Nov. 30, 1860, the year in which several other men who have attained distinction in Massachusetts were born. His father is a distin-
FREDERICK H. PRINCE.
guished ex-mayor of Boston, and for many years was secretary of the National Democratic Committee. Mr. F. H. Prince received his early education in public and private schools, and entered Harvard College in 1878, but left in 1880 to go into business. In 1885 he estab- lished the firm of F. H. Prince & Co., and his career has been one of uninterrupted prosperity. Mr. Prince is vice-president of the New York & New England Rail- road Company, a director of the Chicago Junction Railways and Union Stock Yards Com- pany, and a director in many other rail- roads and large cor- porations. Mr. Prince has been con- cerned in some of the heaviest financial undertakings in the country . In con- nection with Chi- cago and the World's Fair, it may be of in- terest to know that in 1889 he entered into negotiations with Mr. Nathaniel Thayer, of Boston, and the Vanderbilts, for the purchase of the Chicago stock- yards, and formed the syndicate of London and Boston bankers that paid $23,000,000 for the property. The pres- ent plan of uniting the Philadelphia & Reading, the Boston & Maine and the New York & New England systems under one management, thereby forming the largest cor- poration in the world, was the work of Mr. Prince, and this he accomplished in spite of strong opposition from rival corporations. Mr. Prince is a member of the lead- ing clubs in Boston and New York. In 1884 he mar- ried Miss Abby Kinsley Norman, a daughter of George H. Norman, of Newport, R. I., and has two chiklren, Frederick and Norman.
227
BOSTON.
F RANCIS HENRY UNDERWOOD was born in Enfield, Mass., Jan. 12, 1825. His early educa- tion was obtained in the common school, then at a very low ebb, and occasionally afterwards, for a few months at a time, as the means of his family could afford, in " select " schools, where he began Latin, algebra and geometry. He was ambitious to pursue a collegiate course, which would have been open to him but for conscientious scruples that prevented his pledging him- self to the ministry. He did, however, succeed in entering Amherst College in 1843, but in the fol- lowing year he gave up the struggle and went to Kentucky. There he taught school and read law, and in 1847 was ad- mitted to the bar. His marriage, in 1 848, formed an- other tie binding him to the life in Kentucky; yet his sympathies with New England ideas and culture remained predominant, and at the end of another year he returned to Massachusetts, dis- satisfied with the law, and his mind divided between aspirations towards literature and enthu- siasm for the cause of freedom. In 1852 he was the clerk of the Massachusetts Senate; but in 1854 he became the "reader" or literary adviser of the Boston publishing house of Phillips, Sampson & Co. To this house he had carried the plan of a new maga- zine, which, three years later, was realized in the " At- lantic Monthly," of which he became assistant editor, and his friend, James Russell Lowell, editor-in-chief. This was the great literary event of those days. After the dissolution of the firm, in 1859, he was chosen clerk
FRANCIS H. UNDERWOOD.
of the Superior Criminal Court, a position which he continued to hold for eleven years. For thirteen years he served as a member of the Boston School Committee, to which experience we are indebted for his two well- known handbooks of English literature (1870-72). In 1872 he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Bowdoin College. In 1878 he delivered a course of lectures upon American literature, at the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, which was repeated in Boston and other cities. In 1885 he was ap- pointed consul to Glasgow, where he was flatteringly received, and achieved great pop- ularity, not only in his official capacity, but also as a man of society and a man of letters. While in Scotland he deliv- ered many lectures upon American lit- erature, and had the honor, unusual for an American, of be- ing created doctor of laws by the Uni- versity of Glasgow. After being super- seded as consul, in 1889, he remained in Glasgow three years, and was mar- ried there for a sec- ond time. He is now a resident of Boston. He has been a man of untir- ing industry, and besides the handbooks of English lit- erature, he has written the following : "Cloud Pictures" (imaginative stories) ; "Lord of Himself," a novel of Kentucky life ; "Man Proposes," also a novel ; "The True Story of Exodus" (an abridgment of Brugsch's great work) ; short biographies of Lowell, Longfellow, and Whittier; and a handbook of English history, based on Guest's lectures. His latest publication is "Quabbin : The Story of a Small Town."
228
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
THE political destinies and the legislation of Massa- chusetts for the last few years have been largely in the hands of young men, and in every campaign since 1880 Charles F. Sprague has taken an active and useful part. He is the son of Seth Edward and Harriet Boardman (Lawrence) Sprague, and was born in Boston, June 10, 1857. His grandfather was Peleg Sprague, who served two terms in Congress and one term in the Senate from Maine, whither he had removed to practice law. He was subse- quently appointed judge of the Dis- trict Court of Massa- chusetts. He was the author of "Sprague's Decis- ions," a book which is still often quoted as an authority. Mr. Sprague's maternal grandfather was Wil- liam Lawrence, a brother of Amos and Abbot Lawrence, the latter a minister to the Court of St. James. Mr. Sprague attended school in Boston, and entered Harvard in 1875. After graduation he studied in the Har- vard Law School, and later finished his course in the Boston University Law School. He is now
CO
member of the
CHARLES F. SPRAGUE.
Suffolk bar, and is engaged in the prac- tice of his profession. He has always taken the great- est interest in political matters, casting his vote for President Garfield in 1880. He served on the Republi- can Ward and City Committee, in 1887 and 1888. In the latter year he was elected to the Boston Common Council, and was re-elected in 1889 by an increased majority. While in the city government, as member of the Committee on Claims, he was instrumental in saving many dollars to the city, voting always on the conserva-
tive side and taking the view that a municipal corpora- tion should be managed like a business organization and not like a political machine. In 1890 he was elected from the Tenth Suffolk District to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and was re-elected the fol- lowing year. While in the House he served on the com- mittees on bills in the third reading, probate and insol- veney and election laws. Mr. Sprague's chief interest lay in the latter committee, which was one of impor- tance by reason of the opposition of dis- gruntled politicians to the working of the Australian Ballot Law, which has been so effective in pro- moting the purity of elections in Massa- chusetts, and he was strenuous in his efforts that as little change as possible should be made until the people had be- come accustomed to its workings. In his first year in the Leg- islature he reported from the committee a " Bill to Secure the Publication of Elec- tion Expenses," and was instrumental in procuring its passage through the House. Unfortunately, how- ever, it met its death in the Senate, but was the next year passed and enacted, after being materially modified and improved. In the spring of 1892 Mr. Sprague was elected an alternate delegate to the National Republican Convention at Minneapolis from the eighth congressional district. Mr. Sprague was married in November, 1891, to Mary Bryant, daughter of the late George Langdon Pratt, of Brookline, and is now living in Jamaica Plain. He is a member of several social organizations, among others the Athletic and University clubs.
229
BOSTON.
T THE home office of that solid Massachusetts institu- tion, the American Legion of Honor, is located at 200 Huntington Avenue, Boston, and with it is identified the name of Adam Warnock, who has occupied the position of Supreme Secretary for over ten years. Mr. Warnock's ancestors were Scotch Covenanters, and he was born in New York City, Dec. 19, 1846, where he received his education and business training. During the war of the Rebellion he served in the United States Navy, and is at pres- ent a member of Post 30, G. A. R., Depart- ment of Massachu- setts. Early in life Mr. Warnock became connected with fra- ternal organizations, in which his natural force, strength of character and will power were soon rec- ognized, and he be- came a leader. He became a member of the American Legion of Honor in Brook- lyn,. and at the or- ganization of the Grand Council of New York he was elected representa- tive to the Supreme Council, being chosen Supreme Sec- retary in 1882. In this position his suc- cess has been un- questioned. Of untiring industry and with consummate ability he has devoted his time to the society's success. His wise policy has led him to surround the institution with all possible safeguards, while his aggressiveness is on the alert constantly to make use of every opportunity to increase the membership, and keep it in the front rank. During his occupancy of the office of Supreme Secretary, the American Legion of Honor has erected a magnificent building for its headquarters ; has accumu- lated a reserve fund of five hundred thousand dollars,
with which to guarantee the payment of certificates, and stands to-day one of the strongest organizations of its kind in the country. Mr. Warnock is conceded to be as well informed in regard to fraternal insurance as any man in the country, and is a forceful and finished speaker. His constructive ability is unsurpassed, and many of the best features of the system have been suggested by him. He has held many positions of trust in other societies, having been for a number of years Representative from the State of New York to the Supreme Lodge, Knights of Honor, President of the Knights of Honor Veteran Asso- ciation, President of the National Frater- nal Congress, and Grand Secretary of the Royal Arcanum, State of New York. He was long a mem- ber of Atlas Lodge, F. & A. M., of New York, and is now con- nected with Colum- bian Lodge of Boston. He is also a member of Corinthian Royal Arch Chapter and Ivanhoe Command- ery, Knights Tem- plar. He is con- nected with the Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, and several similar societies. There are few men in the country whose opinion is weightier than his on all matters pertaining to fraternal organizations. Mr. Warnock takes an interest in the better class of athletic sports, and is a good amateur tennis player and oarsman, being a member of the Union Boat Club and the Boston Athletic Associa- tion. Since becoming Supreme Secretary of the American Legion of Honor he has resided in Massachusetts, in a pleasant home in Cambridge. Mr. Warnock was married in 1872, his family consisting of wife and five children.
ADAM WARNOCK
230
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
G I EORGE A. CLOUGH, ten times elected architect of the city of Boston, stands in the front rank of his profession in the United States. He was born in Bluehill, Me., on May 27, 1843, being the son of Asa and Louisa (Ray) Clough. Asa Clough was a man of high reputation in Maine as a ship-builder, being nota- ble for having built eighty-three ships during his life- time. George A. Clough was educated in the Bluehill Academy, and worked with his father when still a youth for four years as a draughtsman in the ship-yards, drawing the sweeps upon the floor and forming the molds for the ship timber. In March, 1863, Mr. Clough came to Bos- ton and began the study of architecture with George Snell, of the firm of Snell & Gregerson, archi- tects. He remained with Mr. Snell until 1869, when he went into business for himself. From the start he was success- ful, owing to his com- plete knowledge of his profession, and in May, 1874, he was elected city archi- tect of Boston, being the first man to hold that position. Mr. Clough organized the department, and during his terms of office, which covered a period of ten successive years, many notable public buiklings were erected by the city from his plans. Prominent among these is the English High and Latin School building, on Montgomery Street, in which structure he was the first to introduce the German system, which provides for constructing the bnikdling around open courts, thus affording ample light and ventilation to all parts of it. Another notable building is the Prince School, on Newbury Street, which
fulfils the German plan for smaller school buildings, and which was completed in 1881. The pumping station at the Westborough Insane Hospital, and the Suffolk County Court House in Pemberton Square, Boston, are also on Mr. Clough's plans. In school buildings Mr. Clough especially manifested skill as an architect, and, since 1875, twenty-five or more of these have been built from his plans and under his direction. Mr. Clough designed the Marcella Street Home, the Lyman School for Boys, the Durfee Memorial Building at Fall River, one of the finest school edifices - in the world, the Bridge Academy at Dresden, Me., and similar buildings all over New England, as well as in Penn- sylvania and New York. Recent build- ings of his design are the Fogg Memo- rial at South Ber- wick, Me., and Dana Hall at Wellesley. After extended com- petition Mr. Clough's designs for the Suf- folk County Court House were ac- cepted. The build- ing as erected, how- ever, is the result of radical modification made by the com- mission, and to a considerable degree does not represent Mr. Clough's views as expressed in the original design. He has exerted a .marked and beneficial influence upon the school architecture of Massachusetts, the evolution of which during the past few decades has been one of the striking external features of the progress of the Commonwealth. In 1876 Mr. Clongh was married, at Thetford, Vt., to Amelia M., daughter of Lyman Hinckley ; they have three children living : Charles Henry, Annie Lonisa and Pamelia Morrill Clough. Their residence is in Brookline.
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