USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 54
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EDWARD O. HOLMES.
machines and devices, some of which are patented, and he has a high standing as an engineer. Soon after attaining his majority he became a resident of Malden, where he now resides, having seen the town increase in population from four thousand (including Everett) to more than forty thousand, and the valuation from three million to thirty million dollars. He holds quite an amount of real estate, believing the investment better than stocks of uncertain value, and far more secure. He has always taken a deep interest in the welfare of the town and city, and has held many important offices, being one of the original projec- tors and commis- sioners for the con- struction of water works. He was chair- man of the Board of Selectmen, three years a member of the School Board, five years in the city gov- ernment, and has re- cently been ap- pointed on the Board of Street Commis - sioners. Both as councilman and al- derman he took an active interest in all measures that per- tained to the welfare and prosperity of the city, and the ability displayed by him re- flected to his credit, and he has often been sent to represent his ward. He is a member of the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, and has several times been appointed on the Board of Judges. His father is still living and is in his ninetieth year, and there are in the family four living generations in regular descent. In politics Mr. Holmes has always been a Republican, and has been chairman and secretary of Republican committees and conventions. He is a promi- nent member of the First Congregational Church.
428
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
C HARLES F. SHUTE is a native of Malden, and was born June 17, 1838. He was educated in the Malden public schools and when a young man became engaged in the leather business in Lynn, where he re- mained for several years. He subsequently went into the milk trade in Malden, and in this line has built up an extensive business which he still carries on. Several years ago he became interested in the ice business in Melrose with Mr. McIntyre, the firm being Shute & McIntyre. For a number of years past he has been an ex- tensive and success- ful dealer in real estate, and has built two substantial brick blocks on Ferry Street, which he still owns. As a real estate dealer he has done much to build up Ferry Street and vicinity, and he has become known as one of Malden's substantial citizens. When the subject of changing from a town to a city government was first brought up, twelve years ago, Mr. Shute was one of the leading citizens who took an active in- terest in the question, and he did his part in bringing about that result, which the majority of Malden citizens now believe to have been a most beneficial change. The city has enjoyed remarkable prosperity since it received its charter, and its government has in general been ably administered. Maklen is one of the progressive munici- palities of the Commonwealth. When it came to se- lecting men from the various sections of the city to form the first city government Mr. Shute was unanimously chosen to represent Ward One, where he then resided, as one of the three councilmen from that section of the
city. Hisfirst term in the Council gave entire satisfaction to his constituents, and he was re-elected by a unanimous vote. He performed good service for the city as coun- cilman and as an active member of the committees on Finance, on Highways and Almshouse and Poor. After two years in the Council he retired for a time from public life, but he has ever since taken a most active interest in the affairs of the city and in the promotion of its welfare and prosperity. His efficient work as a member of the Highways Com- mittee led to his selection as one of the street commis- sioners,subsequently, and in this capacity he did excellent work for the city. In the fall of 1890, when it came to select two new men to repre- sent the city in the lower branch of the Massachusetts Legis- lature, he was unani- mously selected as one of the men to whom the honor was due, and he was elected by a large majority. He was re-elected for 1892, and served on the committees on Finance and Expen- (litures, taking rank as one of the most use- ful members of the House. At the close of the legislative session he was chosen as one of the members of the Legislature to attend, with the governor of the State, the dedication of the Workl's Fair buildings. In politics Mr. Shute is an ardent Republican, though he has never permitted his public actions to be governed by any considerations of mere partisanship. As street commissioner, as well as in other capacities, Mr. Shute has rendered the city valua- ble service. He was married in December, 1860, and has a wife and seven children.
CHARLES F. SHUTE.
CHICOPEE
O
C HICOPEE is one of the youngest cities in Massachusetts, having been admitted on Jan. 1, 1891. It is one of the most important industrial centres in the western part of the State, and is somewhat noted as the home of Ex-Governor George D. Robinson. Although a city of between fifteen thousand and sixteen thousand inhabitants, it is so near to Springfield, the metropolis of the Connecticut valley, that it loses some of the prestige that it would otherwise receive. The city as now constituted consists of several flourishing villages, which are still called by their old names : Chicopee Centre, Chicopee Falls and Willimansett. The Centre is situated on the south bank of the Chicopee River at its confluence with the Connecticut River, three and a half miles north of Springfield. Its mills and factories obtain water power from the first-named stream, a rapid water course which, in the course of two or three miles, has a fall of seventy feet. The Falls section of the city is situated on both sides of the Chicopee River, one and a half miles above its mouth, and five miles north of Springfield. A bridge connects the two halves of the place, and pedestrians passing to and fro have a charming view of the river, of the fall over the dam and of the rapids below, checked by another dam at a lower level. There is a great volume of water power utilized by the numerous factories with which the city abounds. Willimansett is a small hamlet at the northerly end of Chicopee Street, on the east side of the Connecticut River and opposite Holyoke. Its interests are chiefly agricultural. The Connecticut River Railroad runs through the centre of the city, and a branch extends up the river to Chicopee Falls.
The city produces great quantities of machinery, bicycles, tricycles, sewing machines, locks, cutlery, bronze statuary, cotton goods, etc. The city has excellent police and fire departments, is well lighted, and has the best of streets. The public schools, supplemented with a free library, are first class and well attended. The evening schools of Chicopee are probably the best in the State. Of the pupils attending the night schools there are two hundred and seventy of all nations, and sixteen teachers are employed in their instruction. The distinction the schools have attained is due to the fact that the city is so largely given over to manufacturing interests. It is here more than anywhere else that all classes mingle, and all nationalities are brought in contact. According to the law, it is compulsory that all illiterate minors who are employed during the day shall take advantage of the opportunity offered by this means of education. Those who do not attend are expelled and deprived of their work during the day at the factories or shops. The State commissioner of education has been pleased to commend the methods and successes of the school work at Chicopee.
One remarkable feature of the place is the fact that it is probably the only city in the country that has no newspaper. This is accounted for by the fact that it is connected so closely with Springfield by electric cars that the residents prefer to rely upon the newspapers of the latter city for their news. Chicopee has a bank of discount- the First National, which has a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and a surplus of over fifty thou- sand dollars --- and two savings banks, which have a large number of depositors. The city, formerly called Cabot- ville, takes its odd name from the river, the original of which was " Chickkuppy." It was at first a part of Spring- field, but as the settlement began to grow it withdrew into a settlement by itself. Its early growth was so slow, however, that it was not until 1825 that it was incorporated as a town.
430
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
W ILLIAM W. McCLENCH, the present mayor of Chicopee, is one of the coming men of Massachusetts. Elected mayor of his native city at the age of thirty-seven, Mr. McClench has proved that a prophet is not without honor in his own country. He was born at Chicopee on April 6, 1854, the son of Joseph U. McClench and Mary A. (Johnson) McClench, a native of East Weare, N. H. The young man came from sturdy stock. His father was born in Fayette, Me., in 1813, and went to Chicopee in 1837, when the great industries of that place were being started, and when Chicopee was a part of Springfield, known as Cabotville. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and at Tufts College, going from the Chicopee High School to the college in 1871. He was graduated from Tufts in 1875. After his college days were over he taught school for two years, - one year at the Hitch- cock Free High School at Brimfield and another year as principal of the Ware High School. He then entered the law office of Stearns, Knowlton & Long at Springfiekl, where he read law until his admission to the bar in 1878. He was then associated in Chicopee with the Hon. George M. Stearns, in the practice of law for eleven years, being counsel for the town a greater part of the time. After this he moved his office to Springfield, and formed a law partnership with Judge Gideon Wells and Jonathan Barnes, under the firm name of Wells, McClench & Barnes, but retaining his residence in Chicopee. For several years he was chairman of the School Board of
WILLIAM W. McCLENCH.
Chicopee, and also of the Board of Registrars of Voters. He received the nomination of both of the big political parties for mayor in 1891, being unanimously elected the second mayor of the city. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Hitchcock Free High School of Brimfield, and was for two years a member of the Supreme Lodge, Knights of Honor, as a represen- tative from Massachusetts. Mr. McClench is also a prominent Mason. In 1880 Mr. McClench was married to Miss Katherine A. Hill, the only daugh- ter of Sylvester B. Hill, of Chicopee, one of the most prominent business men of the place, and for many years connected as con- tractor and other- wise with the famous Ames Manufacturing Company. Mr. Mc- Clench is connected with the Unitarian Society at Chicopee, and is chairman of the Standing Com- mittee of the society. In politics Mr. Mc- Clench was a Repub- lican until 1884, when he joined the Democratic party. A warm admirer of Grover Cleveland, he supported him for clection upon the stump, and has ever since that campaign been a stanch Democrat. He has been an earnest advocate of tariff reform, and has participated actively in all State and national campaigns since he became a voter. In 1892 Mr. McClench was the Democratic candidate for district attorney for the Western district, comprising Hampden and Berkshire. He is regarded throughout the State as one of the strongest men in public life in Western Mas- sachusetts, and his friends are confident that the future has many honors in store for him. 1
431
CHICOPEE.
G EORGE SYLVESTER TAYLOR, Chicopee's first mayor, is one of the most respected and most influential citizens of the city. A resident of what is now Chicopee since 1828, no citizen is held in higher esteem or more honored by the people of his city. When Chicopee was made a city, in 1891, Mr. Taylor was the citizens' candidate for mayor, and was elected without opposition. He has been a justice of the peace since 1845, and was special justice of the Chicopee Po- lice Court until 1859, when he was elected a member of the 1 lower branch of the Massachusetts Legis- lature, to represent his town. He was elected to this office for two years in suc- cession. In 1869 he was elected a State senator, and served one term. In the Legislature he was an efficient and conscientious worker, leading the other members from Western Massachu- setts in pushing the interests of his sec- tion of the State. For two years he was an assessor of the town of Chicopee, and for three years a member of the Board of Selectmen. H e is also president of the Chicopee Falls Savings Bank. In business and private life Mr. Taylor has been equally as distinguished as he has been in politics. He was born in South Hadley on March 2, 1822, the son of Sylvester and Sarah (Eaton) Taylor. On his mother's side he is a descendant of the famous Chapin family, one of the oldest families in Western Massachusetts. He went to Chicopee (then a part of Springfield), with his family, in 1828, where he has lived ever since. He was de- pendent upon the schools of the town for his educa-
tion, with the exception of a finishing course at the school kept by the Rev. Sanford Lawton in Springfield. In 1839 Mr. Taylor entered the store of Colonel Bryant, where he was a clerk for two years. In 1842 he en- tered the store of S. A. Shackleford & Co., soon after- wards becoming a partner. This was upon his becom- ing of age, in 1843. The name of the firm was then changed to Shackford & Taylor. This firm continued in business twenty years, after which Mr. Taylor entered into the agricultural tool business, under the firm name of Belcher & Taylor. This company con- tinued nearly two years, when the stock company of the Belcher & Taylor Agricultural Tool Company was incor- porated. Since that time Mr. Taylor has been the treasurer, and since Mr. Belch- er's retirement, in 1866, he has also been the agent of the company. Under his able management the business has be- come very prosper- ous. Mr. Taylor is also president of the Chicopee Falls Building Company. He is a prominent member of the Con- gregational church, and has been one of the deacons since June 20, 1857. He was superintendent of the Sunday- school from May 8, 1848, until May, 1873, when he resigned, after twenty-five years of faithful service. Mr. Taylor was married in 1845 to Miss Asenath B. Cobb, of Princeton, Mass. He has one daughter and three sons living, having lost two sons and one daughter. In the development of the natural resources of Chicopee and in the advancement of the interests of the municipality Mr. Taylor has been one of the potent factors.
GEORGE S. TAYLOR.
432
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
G EORGE MUNROE STEARNS is one of a small number of lawyers in Western Massachusetts whose professional reputation extends all over New England. He is one of the most eloquent and witty orators in the country. He was born at Stoughton, Norfolk County, April 18, 1831, the son of William L. and Mary (Munroe) Stearns. His early education was obtained in the common schools of the town of Rowe, where his father was settled as pastor of a Unitarian parish. After being graduated from the public schools there he took a course at the academy at Shel- burne Falls. Mr. Stearns decided long before his school- days were over that the profession of law was his field in life, and on leaving school he entered the office of the late Judge John Wells, at Chic- opee, where he pur- sued his legal studies. He was admitted to the Hampden County bar in April, 1852, and immedi- ately entered into partnership with Judge Wells. This partnership was con- tinued until Judge Wells removed to Springfield, after which Mr. Stearns continued alone for several years. Later, Mr. Stearns formed a copartnership with the late Hon. E. D. Beach, and after that with Hon. Marcus P. Knowl- ton, judge of the Supreme Judicial Court, and C. L. Long. This partnership continued for some years. Since 1878 he has continued in practice in Chicopee. Mr. Stearns held a commission as justice of the peace and quorum and notary public for several years. He was elected a representative to the General Court from Chicopee in 1859 and was appointed one of the Com-
mittee of Thirty who reported the revision of the statutes in 1860. In 1871 Mr. Stearns was elected to the Senate, serving on the Committee on Railroads. In 1872 he was elected district attorney for the western district, which office he resigned after holding it for over two years. In February, 1886, Mr. Stearns was appointed United States attorney at Boston, which office he also resigned after seventeen months. In politics Mr. Stearns is a Democrat, and has frequently been a dele- gate to State conven- tions. He wasa delegate to the Na- tional Democratic Convention, in 1872, where he favored the nomination of Hor- ace Greeley. Mr. Stearns was candi- date for lieutenant- governor on the ticket with John Quincy Adams, and also for the same place when Charles Sumner was nomi- nated by the Demo- crats, but when the latter declined, Mr. Stearns also with - drew. Mr. Stearns married Emily Caro- line, daughter of Erasmus D. and Caroline (Bullard ) Goodnow, at Brook- lyn, N. Y., May 17, 1855. Their chil- dren were : Mary Caroline and Emily Spaulding Stearns, the former dying at the age of twenty-eight and the latter at twelve. Mr. Stearns is a grandson of Charles Stearns, D. D., of Lincoln, who was made doctor of divinity by Harvard, and was one of the ablest and most learned men of his day. He was at one time offered the presidency of Harvard College, but declined it, because he considered it his duty to remain with the little parish at Lincoln, though his compensation was but four hundred dollars a year.
GEORGE M. STEARNS.
433
CHICOPEE.
A. H. OVERMAN, president of the Overman Wheel Company, of Chicopee Falls, had an idea when he was a boy, and long before the bicycle of to-day was thought of, that mankind should have some means of locomotion for which the motive power should be con- tained within himself. This idea was possibly sug- gested by the velocipede of that period, which was not only a clumsy vehicle, but was far from speedy. The result of this train of thought is his position to-day at the head of the great- est wheel manufac- turing company in the country. Mr. Overman was born in Fulton County, Ill., in 1850, his fa- ther being Cyrus R. Overman, president of the Illinois State Horticultural So- ciety, and the lead- ing wholesale nurs- eryman of the State. Mr. Overman was educated at the State Normal University of Illinois. He went to Chicago when twenty years of age, where he accepted a position with Jansen, Mc Clurg & Co., wholesale book and stationery dealers, with whom he re- mained until he had perfected his plans for becoming a bi- cycle manufacturer. He then resigned his position and sold his home, against the protest of his friends, to come East, where the conditions of labor were more suitable for his purpose than where he was. While with this house, however, Mr. Overman con- stantly studied the possibilities of his project, and spent his spare time in making models of his own invention, which were of no little value to him when he went into the business in earnest. Mr. Overman went from Chi- cago to Hartford, Conn., where he matured his plans.
A. H. OVERMAN.
He then went to Chicopee Falls, where the corporation he formed while at Hartford erected a building two stories in height, and covering an area of about two thousand feet, and began business with about thirty men. As a result of Mr. Overman's able management, the corporation now has a building more than twenty times the size of the original, in addition to several smaller buildings, and employs about twelve hundred men. For some time when he first began, Mr. Overman had his wheels con- structed by contract, but now claims that his is the only con- cern in the world which builds the en- tire bicycle. In 1891 Mr. Overman offered to give $10,000 to the League of Ameri- can Wheelmen in case any other manu- facturers of bicycles could prove that they manufactured every part of their wheels in their own factories, providing any com- peting party would agree to forfeit the same amount in case they failed. No one accepted his challenge. Mr. Overman is a thor- ough master of every part of his business, and is at his manu- factory every day, looking after me- chanical details. He is the inventor of many of the devices of which his wheel is made, but is constantly buying up improved patents. He has a board of experts who do nothing but experiment and invent parts of bicycles and he him- self is thoroughly conversant with all the intricate minutiæ of the various branches of the business. Mr. Overman married Miss Millie E. Benton, of Normal, Ill., in 1873, and they have three children, - Marjorie, Max and Edward Overman.
434
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
E MERSON GAYLORD, although not a veteran of the late war, is one of the heroes of that war. An incident that occurred at the very start of the Rebel- lion tells the whole story. Mr. Gaylord, who was at that time a manufacturer of military accoutrements, had been manufacturing supplies for nearly every State in the Union and had, before there was any expectation of war, received an order for a large consignment of military accoutrements for the Southern States. The day Fort Sumter fell he had the order finished. That afternoon he received a telegram from Colonel Thorn- ton, commanding at Governor's Island, N. Y., asking him to ship to the govern- ment all goods on hand and all in pro- cess of construction. Soon afterward a message was received from Governor An- drew with the same request for Massa- chusetts. Mr. Gay- lord resolved to divide the accoutre- ments equally be- tween the govern- ment and the State. Before night a noted speculator from New York offered $5,000 more than he would otherwise receive for the stock. Mr. Gay- lord, realizing that the accoutrements would go to the South, refused the offer and sent the goods to the government. The demands of the govern- ment for this line of goods became so large that he was compelled to erect new buiklings, increase his force of employees to four hundred and fifty men, and ship from $18,000 to $20,000 worth of goods cvery weck. Mr. Gaylord was born at South Hadley, Mass., Sept. 2, 1817, the son of Josiah and Lucretia Smith Gaylord. His father dying when he was seven years of age, he was
early left to depend upon his own resources. At seven- teen years of age he was apprenticed to learn harness making. An apprentice in those days was called upon to do chores and render other assistance, and young Gaylord, finding he had so much other work to do for his employer, after two months began to learn the shoe- maker's trade. Soon afterwards he purchased his time for fifty dollars and paid a Mr. Ely one dollar a week to teach him the art of making first-class gaiter boots. At twenty-one years of age he had saved forty dollars. He continued in the shoe business until 1840, and in 1841 he went to Chicopee where he entered the em- ploy of the N. P. Ames Company, manufacturers of can- non swords and mil- itary accoutrements. He was employed in the latter depart- ment, and in 1843 took charge of it. In 1856 he purchased the department and added to it the man- ufacture of leather hose and machinery belting. In April, 1863, Mr. Gaylord organized his estab- lishment into a stock company, of which he became president. After the Rebellion the business was chiefly confined to cabinet locks and regulative and society swords of the finest workmanship. In 1881 he sold out his interest to the stockholders and retired from active business. He has been a director of the First National Bank of Chicopce for about thirty years, and has been president of the bank since 1880. In politics Mr. Gaylord has always been a Republican. He was a member of the House in 1866 and a member of the Senate in 1880 and 1881.
EMERSON GAYLORD.
435
CHICOPEE.
T `HOMAS CLARK PAGE is as good an illustration of a self-made man as it is possible to find. Starting the battle of life without even the advantages possessed by the ordinarily poor boy, he has erected for himself a monument of success that will ever stand as an illustration of what creditable ambition and well-directed energy can be made to do. He was born in Hollis, York County, Me., April 23, 1832, the youngest son of James and Eliza (Woodman) Page. Eight years later his father died, leaving his mother with seven small children and no means of support. At this eventful period in his life Thomas Clark Page went to work on a farm with an uncle, where he was per- mitted to attend school only on rainy days or at such times as he could be spared from the work on the farm. Three years later he was appren- ticed to a shoe manufacturer at Haverhill, Mass., by whom he was allowed to attend school three months in the year. Two and a half years later he was given his time, and he went to Saco, Me., where his mother was then residing. Here he continued making shoes and attending the public schools. At the age of eighteen years he decided that the trade he had learned did not offer the field for advancement that he aspired to, and he apprenticed himself to a machinist, with whom he remained three full years. In April, 1853, just after becoming of age, Mr. Page went to Holyoke, Mass., where he worked as a journeyman machinist four or five years. In 1857-58, during those hard times when nearly all the shops closed, Mr. Page embraced the
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