USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 57
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AARON L. DENNISON.
of the creation of an American watch industry. He met with serious difficulty in securing capital, but in 1849 he met Edward Howard, then engaged in the manufacture of clocks, post-office scales, standard weights and measures, fire engines, sewing machines, etc., and who at that time was considering the subject of going into the manufacture of locomotives. Mr. Dennison persuaded him to give up that project and converted him to his project of watch making. After securing the neces- sary capital, they organized the War- ren Manufacturing Company. The present output is two thousand watch movements per day, with a force of twenty-eight hun - dred. Mr. Denni- son's peculiar genius lay in devising ways and means. His constant study of methods was such that it has been said that "nothing could be proposed in watch manufacture that Mr. Dennison had not already pro- posed." The origi- nal company formed in Roxbury, through Mr. Dennison's sug- gestions and influ- ence, was brought to Waltham in 1854, and was the first and only watch factory in the world that has ever produced in its factory a com- plete watch ready for the pocket, making cases, dials, hands, jewels and hair springs. In 1850 there were no watches manufactured in this country. In forty- three years the business has developed so that the out- put of the American watch industry is sixty-five hundred movements per day, and an equal number of cases are made. Prices of medium grade watches have been reduced from fifty dollars to twelve dollars.
452
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
H ENRY NOAH FISHER, the president and treasurer of the New England Northwestern Investment Company of Seattle, Wash., has lived in Waltham the greater portion of his life, and has been prominently identified with all measures to increase its prosperity. He is the son of Noah and Esther (Page) Fisher, and was born in Barton, Orleans County, Vt., June 5, 1842. His father's family removed to Nashua, N. H., when he was an infant, and his education was obtained in the pub- lic schools of that city. When he was young his father died, and he was early obliged to seek an entrance into mercantile life. He commenced as a clerk in a grocery store in Nashua, and in 1859 went to Waltham, securing employment in the American Waltham Watch Company. He rose rapidly from one position to an- other, until he occu- pied one of the most important executive offices in the com- pany. When the war broke out Mr. Fisher enlisted in Company D, Thirty- fifth Massachusetts Infantry, in July, 1862, and partici- pated in the battles of South Mountain and Antietam. On the 17th of September, 1862, he was wounded at Antietam, his right shoulder being fractured by a shell. He was confined to the hospital until March 4, 1863, when he received an honorable discharge. Mr. Fisher is an honored member of the Masonic fraternity, and has held high and important offices in that institution. He is a past master of the Isaac Parker Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, of Waltham ; past high priest of Waltham Royal Arch Chap-
ter ; a member of the De Molay Commandery, Knights Templar, of Boston, Massachusetts Consistory, thirty- second degree, and of Aleppo Temple, Order of the Mystic Shrine. He is the past commander of F. P. H. Rogers Post 29, Grand Army of the Republic, Waltham. He is a member of the Middlesex and Century clubs, both of Boston, and was president of the Mayors' Club in 1890 and 1891. When Waltham was incorporated as a city, in 1885, he was elected to serve on the first Board of Aldermen, and was elected pres- ident of the board. He was re-elected in 1886 both to the board and the presi- dency of the same. In 1887 he was elected mayor on the Republican ticket, and his ad- ministration was so acceptable that in 1888 he was re- elected without an opposing ticket. His popularity did not wane in the least, and in 1889 and 1890 was for a third and fourth time elected to the office of mayor, no candidate being nominated in oppo- sition. On account of his interests in the New England Northwestern Investment Com- pany he refused to serve another term as mayor, and in April, 1890, re- signed his position in the watch factory for the same reason. He is largely interested in the American Watch Tool Company, a trustee in the Waltham Savings Bank, is a member of the firm of James A. Davis & Co., Boston, wholesale coal, coke and cement, and director of the United Anthracite Collieries Company of Penn- sylvania. He was married, Aug. 17, 1876, to Joanna E. Bradeen, of Limerick, Me.
HENRY N. FISHER.
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453
WALTHAM.
B RADSHAW S. TOLMAN was born in Waltham in 1851, and has always made his home there. He is the oldest son of John E. and Sarah F. Tolman, has never married, and resides on the Tolman estate on Moody Street. He was educated in the public schools of his native city. When scarcely grown to manhood, at the age of nineteen years, he was placed in the responsible position of superintendent of the Waltham & Newton Street Railway, which position he held for a number of years. His energetic efforts did much to put that corporation on a pay- ing basis. Mr. Tol- man was for many years a member of the Board of Assessors of Waltham, where his 1 excellent judgment of real estate values and familiarity with the property interests of the city made his services peculiarly valuable. He is at present chairman of the Board of Sewer Commissioners, which has recently finished a complete system of sewerage, extending through thirty-five miles of streets, embracing the whole of the thickly settled part of the city, and forming a branch of the great metropolitan sewer- age system now being built by the State. He also holds the office of treasurer of the Waltham Screw Company, in which he has a considerable financial interest. Through his efforts capitalists have become interested in the enterprise, and another factory, situated on the banks of the Charles River, has been added to the long list of indus- tries for which Waltham is justly noted. For nearly twenty years Mr. Tolman has been actively engaged in the real estate business, and is himself a large owner F
of real estate, and trustee and manager of several important estates. No active business man in the city has been more prominently identified with the real estate interests of Waltham than he. He has placed on the market more than one half of the land in that sec- tion of the city known as the South Side, where are located the factories of the American Waltham Watch Company, the American Watch Tool Company, and several other manufacturing companies. When Mr. Tolman first went into business nearly all the land lying east of Moody Street was unimproved. He took hold of the land of the Newton Chem- ical Company and the Crafts, Cutter, Stearns and Reed estates, each contain- taining large tracts in this locality, and has rapidly and success- fully developed them. The growth of this section has out- stripped all other parts of the city and has been almost phe- nomenal. Where there were but a few years ago large pas- tures and fields cov- ered with bushes and shrubs, there are now wide streets, carefully laid out, and lined with those sub stantial and well- built residence which every citizen of Waltham is proud to point out as the homes of its prosperous skilled mechanics. The values of land in this section have increased more than sixfold in the last eight years, and so rapidly has the property been improved that at present few lots remain available for building purposes. Mr. Tolman's business interests have brought him into contact with so many people that he may be said to be one of the best and most favorably known of the city's business men,
BRADSHAW S. TOLMAN.
QUINCY
QUINCY
T HE fame of Quincy granite is world-wide. Quincy to-day is a bright star in the galaxy of Massachusetts municipalities. For the first century and a half of the country's history, dating from the landing of the Pilgrims, Quincy was an integral part of Braintree. In 1792 Quincy (the north precinct) became a town. In 1888 the town became a city with a somewhat unique and peculiar charter. The city government is divided into two branches, the legislative and executive. The legislative branch consists of a city council, composed of twenty- three members ; three from each ward and five at large. The executive department consists of the mayor and the various officials, all of whom are appointed by him and for whom he is responsible. The appointing power is vested in the mayor exclusively, and is not subject to the approval of or the interference of the council. The heads of departments through their chief, the mayor, recommend to the council such measures as are demanded by their departments. The council through its committees investigates and proposes such legislation as it deems proper. The heads of departments consist of city clerk, treasurer, commissioner of public works, solicitor, chief engineer of the fire department, deputy manager of police, overseer of the poor and assessors.
The history of Quincy is intimately interwoven with that of the nation. The Quincys, Adamses, Hancocks, Reveres, and other well-known men have given her a widespread reputation in which her citizens take a just pride. Within her precincts repose the remains of two presidents of the Union, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Their descendants to-day are the leaders in thought and in high-minded, ennobling statesmanship.
With a population of over twenty thousand, which is rapidly increasing in numbers, the city has bright prospects. The chief industry and the one which has given the city a universal fame is the granite industry. In this, the largest granite manufacturing centre of the world, employment is given to two thousand sober, intelligent, industrious mechanics. The granite from her quarries may be found in every portion of this country and many parts of the globe. The city enjoys every modern convenience - electric cars which connect all sections of her domains ; electric lights ; an ample water supply ; a model city charter, and an industrious, thriving, sober, intelli- gent citizenship. For ten years she has been rid of the liquor curse, and the prohibition banner has been her standard. During the decade 1880-90, the city had a wonderful growth. In the matter of building there was a gain of one thousand and thirteen houses, and it has rapidly increased in the past two years.
With a water front of many miles, it is not surprising that the Quincy Yacht Club should be one of the most prosperous in the State. In educational matters Quincy has always been in the van, and the Quincy system, so styled, inaugurated by General Francis A. Walker in 1875, has acquired a wide reputation and has been exten- sively imitated. The city has some of the finest school buildings in the country, and spends large sums annually in support of her schools.
Quincy draws a large portion of her citizenship from the business men of Boston, who make their homes within her borders and spend their leisure hours within her bounds. The residences of Quincy's business popula- tion will compare favorably with those of any other municipality in tasteful design and finish and attractive surroundings. Among the buildings of interest are the "Stone Temple," the house of worship of the First Unita- rian parish, within whose walls are entombed the two presidents ; the two ancient Adams houses, the birthplace and home of the two rulers ; the City Hall, built of Quincy granite ; the Willard schoolhouse, costing $100,000 ; Faxon Hall, a perpetual monument to the efforts of that indomitable fighter of the liquor interests, Mr. Henry H. Faxon ; Adams's Block, crected by the Adams family ; Durgin & Merrill Block ; Robertson Block ; Adams Academy ; the Old Hancock House ; the Episcopal Church ; the Wollaston Unitarian Church, and Atlantic Music Hall.
The statistics of 1891 were as follows : polls, 5, 160 ; increase, 519 ; value of personal property, $2,973,100 ; resident bank stock, $295,805 ; gain, $59,695 ; real estate buildings, $5,490,725 ; land, $5,667,400 ; total, $11,- 158,125 ; gain, $689,925 ; total real estate and personal valuation, $14,427,030 ; total gain, $749,620 ; houses, 2,935 ; gain, 169. Two national banks, a savings bank and two co-operative banks make up the city's financial institutions,
455
QUINCY.
IN Hon. Henry O. Fairbanks the city of Quincy has had a wide-awake, progressive mayor, the past two years. He was born in Boston, June 21, 1852, and is consequently in his forty-first year. He was the son of Mr. Moses Fairbanks, a former well-known Boston mer- chant, and one of the first to interest themselves in the building and development of Wollaston in Quincy, one of Boston's most beautiful suburbs. Mayor Fairbanks spent his earlier years in the Athens of America, and received his educa- tion in her schools. Completing his stud- ies in 1869, when he graduated from the English High School, he began his business career. He first en- tered the office of Messrs. Nazro & Co., flour dealers of Bos- ton, and during his twelve years' associa- tion with that well- known firm, applied himself so assidu- ously to acquiring a knowledge of the business that, in 1881, he felt that his experience justified him in starting in business for himself. His judgment proved correct, and he has succeeded by dint of pluck, perseverance and superior ability in establishing a lucrative trade. He is at present the eastern agent for several well-known Western flour mills, and has an office at No. 78 Commercial Street, Boston. Mayor Fairbanks first became a citizen of Quincy in 1875, when he removed with his family to Wollaston, a then comparatively new territory, in which his father, Moses Fairbanks, took a deep interest. For the past seventeen years he has been recognized as among the social leaders of Wollaston, and is a general favorite in social circles. He is a prominent member of the
HENRY O. FAIRBANKS.
Masonic fraternity and Knights of Honor. He is a past master in the former and a past dictator in the latter order. He has been honored with a commission as district deputy grand master of the Twenty-fourth Masonic District, which position he filled with great satisfaction to the lodges in his charge. He first became prominent in politics in 1888, when the town of Quincy adopted a charter, and was elected from Ward Five, Wollaston, to the first City Council. He was re-elected in the following year, and when the City Council organized in 1890 he was selected by its members to preside over its de- liberations. This position he filled in so acceptable a man- ner, and with such marked ability, that he was selected as the Republican standard - bearer in the campaign of that year, and was elected as the chief execu- tive of the young and thriving city by a handsome majority. He was again a can- didate for like honors in 1891, and was again elected by a flattering vote. Dur- ing the two years of service in the muni- cipal harness Mayor Fairbanks has proved a popular and able executive, and has been notably fortunate in his appointments to the various municipal offices. During his administration he has been called upon to decide matters of vast moment to the city, particularly the purchase of the Quincy Water Supply Company's plant and franchise, and in all of them he has displayed his characteristic business ability and a thorough appreciation of the various needs of the municipality. Mayor Fairbanks is married, and has a charming home.
456
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
PROBABLY the best-known unofficial leader in Massachusetts politics to-day is Mr. Henry Hardwick Faxon, the Quincy philanthropist and zealous worker for temperance legislation. Henry Hardwick Faxon, son of Job and Judith B. (Hardwick) Faxon, was born in Quincy, Mass., Sept. 28, 1823. He is de- scended in the eighth generation from Thomas Faxon, who came from England to America before 1647, set- tling in that part of Braintree which is now Quincy. Henry passed his youth on his father's farm, enjoying com- mon school advan- tages. He was ap- prenticed to the shoemaker's trade when about sixteen, and in 1843, with his brother John, began the manufacture of boots and shoes. About 1846 he opened a retail gro- cery and provision store in Quincy, which he conducted for seven years, after which he became a retail grocer at the corner of South and Beach streets, Bos- ton, the firm name being Faxon, Wood & Co. Two years later he moved to Commercial Street, changing the title to Faxon Bros. & Co., and the business to one of wholesale transactions. In 1861, retiring from the partnership, he went to New Orleans and made large purchases of molasses. The next year he engaged in speculation on Chatham Street, Boston, and subsequently on India Wharf. Relinquishing speculation, he dealt extensively in real estate, making in this the bulk of his fortune, and is now the largest individual real estate owner in Quincy. He married, Nov. 18, 1852, Mary B., daughter of Israel W. and Priscilla L. ( Burbank) Munroe, Mrs.
Faxon died, Sept. 6, 1885, leaving one son, Henry Munroe, born May 22, 1864. Mr. Faxon represented his native town in the State Legislatures of 1864 and 1871. His attention was first attracted to the temper- ance question while a member of that body. He was a police officer in Quincy from 1881 to 1886, inclusive, and was re-appointed by Mayor Porter in 1889. His church connections are with the Unitarian society. Mr. Faxon's political affiliations in the past have been with the Republican party, except in 1884, when he was Prohibition candidate for lieu- tenant-governor. The extent of Mr. Faxon's influence in State politics was well illustrated in 1879. Thomas Talbot was governor, and Gen- eral Butler loomed up as an opposition candidate. Governor Talbot's friends urged him to accept a re-nomination. Mr. Faxon's coolness and shrewdness led him to see inevitable de- feat. He made sug- gestions so full of potency that His Excellency thought it prudent to decline to again head the State ticket. The contest narrowed to Hon. Henry 1 .. Pierce and Lieutenant-Gov- ernor John D. Long. The former had influence and wealth and was a favorite with the party's "older heads" and its leading news- papers. Mr. Faxon called a convention of temperance men of the State. Mr. Pierce favored license, while Mr. Long was sound on prohibition. The occasion was one of great enthusiasm. Mr. Long's candidacy was given an impetus that made his success in the conven- tion a certainty. He was nominated on the first ballot, and handsomely elected over General Butler.
HENRY H. FAXON.
457
QUINCY.
T `HE traditions of a remarkable family are worthily upheld in the person of the present Josiah Quincy, of Quincy. Though only thirty-three years of age, he has already given ample proof of his ability as a legislator as well as a capacity for executive responsibility which is not often met with in a man of his years. Josiah Quincy is a member of the famous Quincy family, and was born in the city which bears his name, Oct. 15, 1859, and was educated at the Adams Academy, later entering Harvard College, from which he graduated in the class of 1880. He studied law at the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the Suffolk bar in 1883. In 1887 Mr. Quincy was elected a member of the Massachusetts Legis- lature, being re- elected in 1888, 1889 and 1891. The break in his legislative career in the year 1890 was caused by his selection as the Democratic candi- date for Congress in his district. The 1047+ district was heavily Republican and Mr. Quincy was defeated. During his terms in the Legislature, he served with distinc- tion on the commit- tees on Labor, Woman Suffrage, Rules, Election Laws and Taxation, and took an active part in the perfection of the Austra- lian ballot law. He also acted as a member of the Special Committee on Child Labor, on which he did good service. Mr. Quincy's influence has been felt in securing some of the most important reforms which have been incorporated into the statutes of Massachu- setts within the past few years. He early manifested an aptitude for politics, and in 1881 was elected secretary
JOSIAH QUINCY.
of the Massachusetts Civil Service Reform League, two years later being elected secretary of the Massachusetts Tariff Reform League. He was one of the founders and first chairman of the executive committee of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusetts, an organization which has done much hard work in behalf of the Democratic party in the State. Mr. Quincy was chosen secretary of the Democratic State Committee in 1890 and chairman of its executive committee in 1891, and he was elected to the chairmanship of the committee in 1892, on the resig- nation of Judge Corcoran. At the Democratic National Convention, held at Chicago in June, 1 892, Mr. Quincy was selected as the Massachusetts mem- ber of the Demo- cratic National Committee. His colleagues on the committee recog- nized his practical ability by placing him in charge of the com- mittee on campaign literature, in which capacity he had much to do with the con- duct of the cam- paign of 1892. Mr. Quincy is cool, cal- culating and wonder- fully practical in all his movements, logi- cal in his speeches, which always bristle with facts, arguments and statistics, but according to those who are his intimate acquaint- ances, his cold exterior is no index to the kindly nature of which he is possessed. Few Democrats in New England, of the younger generation, have performed such effective service for the cause of tariff reform, his efforts in this direction, equally with his other political services, having gained for him a national reputation and the esteem of the party leaders at Washington.
458
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
T THEOPHILUS KING, banker, organizer and man of affairs, was born in Rochester, Plymouth County, Dec. 14, 1844. He attended the public school, and afterwards the Rochester Academy, until he was sixteen years of age. He had the advantage of quite a varied experience in affairs, for his father's business was somewhat heterogeneous. He owned a farm, kept a country store, conducted a saw-mill, was town clerk, postmaster, justice of the peace and fire insurance agent. Theophilus assisted his father in some of the depart- ments of his busi- ness, but it was on the farm that he found his special pleasure, in tilling that portion that his father had set aside for his use. He managed to save in the first year of his farming $2.50, with which he started an account at the sav- ings bank, seven miles away. This had increased to $231.20 when he was sixteen, with which sum he left home to engage in the leather business, as clerk with the firm of Johnson & Thompson. At this time he developed great fondness for athletic sports, so he made one of a unique base-ball organization called the "Early Dawns," which practised on Boston Common from five to seven o'clock every morning. Mr. King played on first base, and showed the same prowess there that has distinguished his business life. After nearly eight years as clerk and salesman, during which time he travelled over a large part of the country, Mr. King formed a partnership with Charles B. Bryant, under the firm name of Bryant & King, and they started business on the corner of Pearl
THEOPHILUS KING.
and Purchase streets. The Boston fire compelled their removal to South Street. A tannery at Clinton had in the meantime been added to the business. The burst- ing of a dam in 1876 swept away in a few moments this monument of years of patient industry and business endeavor. Nothing daunted, and making a satisfactory arrangement with their creditors, the firm started a tan- nery at Woburn, and at the end of six years, having recovered by law part of the property destroyed, the firm had paid every creditor in full on claims long since cancelled. Success attended the firm until 1887, when a period of depression set in, and the busi- ness was transferred to a company. Mr. King has been called upon to act as as- signee, trustee and receiver, and has since turned his at- tention to banking. His success is shown in the fact that he is now president of the National Granite Bank of Quincy, and vice-president of the National Bank of. Redemption of Bos- ton. He was instru- mental in bringing about the incorpora- tion, and becoming treasurer, of the Riv- erside Worsted Mills, Atlantic Mills, and Eureka Silk Company, representing an aggregate capital of $3,126,000, furnishing employment to 4,500 people, and doing an annual business of over $7,000,000. As trustce, Mr. King has had control of one of the largest cotton mills in Canada, and has brought about the incorporation of the seven colored cotton mills of the Dominion. Mr. King is trustee of several estates, and a director in other institutions. He takes an active interest in church and temperance work.
459
QUINCY.
Q UINCY granite leads the world, and McDonnell & Sons, of Quincy, are the leaders in the granite industry of America. Mr. Thomas H. McDonnell, of this firm, is the active head of the concern. He was born in Quincy, Aug. 18, 1848, and attended the schools of his native place, subsequently taking a thorough busi- ness course at Comer's Commercial College. Upon completing his studies he associated himself, with his father, the late Patrick McDonnell, in the granite busi- ness with his brother, John Q. Under their able and judi- cious management the name of McDon- nell & Sons has ac- quired a national reputation, not alone for the excellence of the work produced by them, but for their integrity and square dealing. They now own twenty acres of the best quarry land in Quincy, as well as an extensive quarry of fine light granite at Barre, Vt. Be- sides the quarries, the equipment of steam engines, drills and other appropri- ate machinery for operating them, is very complete and effective, and some of it, specially con- structed for the use of the firm, quite costly, yet necessary, since McDonnell & Sons, in addi- tion to their monument interests, do more in finished and building granite than any other Quincy firm. One of their derricks alone is capable of removing a one hundred ton block at a single lift, and thirty thousand feet of lumber is annually consumed in boxing goods for shipment. Nearly two hundred workmen are employed, and it requires eight thousand dollars a month to pay for the labor at the quarries and the
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