USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 60
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WARREN E. LOCKE.
475
SOMERVILLE.
Nº ) characteristic of the period will be more forcibly illustrated at the fair than the extent to which modern genius has carried the sub-division of labor. Massachusetts has taken this principle nearer its logical conclusion than any other region of the world, as may be seen in any of its manufacturing cities, and it has at least one remarkable instance of the same thing in a line more intellectual than mechanical. Not the least important branch of newspaper work is the reading of exchanges. About five years ago an ex- change editor of the Boston Globe came to the conclusion that he could read newspapers for many people as well as he could for one em- ployer, and thus not only do simultane- ously the exchange reading for such trade and class papers as might be glad to be relieved of the work, but also make the contents of the press more generally ac- cessible and useful. The idea had been applied in London and New York to the reading of papers for public and profes- sional men, but in Boston it had its first considerable devel- opment in editorial and commercial lines. The result is that Robert Luce, the editor referred to, and his brother Linn now direct the reading of nearly two thousand papers a day, and their thirty-five employees now put out more than two million clippings a year. Their in- stitution, the Press Clipping Bureau, has proved, like the newspaper syndicate system, that even in what for want of a better term may be called literary directions, com- bination and specialization can be effective in saving labor. It also has shown that commerce, in its attack
ROBERT LUCE.
upon the customer at his very fireside, may be aided in its aim by that news in the local papers of the country which indicates possibilities of traffic. Robert Luce, however, has not confined himself to newspaper work, though, during the seven years he served on the Globe, rising from the bottom to an editorial position, that became his chief reliance. He is also much in- terested in politics, and has for some time been a leader of the Democratic party in Somerville, where he resides. He was nominated for the governor's council when but twenty-four years old, and has also been nominated for the House of Represen- tatives. Two of these nominations were im- posed without even so much as asking his permission. The districts, however, were in each case too strongly Republican to make the nomina- tions more than an honor. He has also written much outside the sanctum, and is the author of "Writ- ing for the Press," a manual that has be- come an authority in passing through four editions, and "Elec- tric Railways," the first book on the sub- ject. He is presi- dent of the Unita- rian Club in his city, is a Mason, and belongs to the usual number of social organizations. He was born in Auburn, Me., Dec. 2, 1862, the son of Enos Thompson and Phoebe Learned Luce ; was educated in the public schools there and in Somerville, and graduated at Harvard in 1882, taking the degree of A. M. in the following year. In 1885 he married Mabelle C. Farnham, of Somerville, and they live at No. 44 Highland Avenue in that city. Mr. Luce has a wide acquaintance with public men.
I TAUNTON
THE city of Taunton is one of the oldest municipalities in New England. It was incorporated in 1639, but for two or three years before that its fine water power and rich alluvial farms had been brought to the notice of Boston and Plymouth colonists, and a few hardy settlers had drifted thither. Three rivers which watered the territory were promptly utilized for grist, saw and fulling' mills, and the concentration of business about these first factories settled the fate of the new town. It was destined at its birth to be a manufacturing centre. Natural advantages also gave it a steady impetus. The swamps and meadows were full of bog iron. The early settlers were from the iron districts of Wales, and their attention was speedily turned to the development of the iron industry. The first "bloomery," or forge, in New England was established in the town, and anchor, tool and nail making gave employment to busy mechanics long before the surrounding country had been cleared of the wild men and beasts. From that time on, iron working in all its forms has occupied the van in the steady advance of the city. The old "bloomeries" in which the hollow ware of Pilgrim and Puritan homes was turned out and the anchors of the colonial and continental craft, including "Old Ironsides," were forged, passed away, but other forms of work came in as inventions, lightened labor, and gave wider range to mechanical skill and the employ- ment of capital. Hollow ware suggested stoves, and for generations the best workmen in the country have given the active years of their lives to developing that most important article of household economy.
Seven large foundries give employment to skilled workmen, turn out stoves, ranges and furnaces by the thousand, and find a market from Maine to Alaska. Allied to these are the stove-lining companies and the nickel plating establishments, which are called upon to furnish the ornamental part of stove equipment. Nail making, too, kept pace with stove manufacture. Each invention which expedited production was promptly utilized, and to-day the output of tacks, brads, shoe nails, points, rivets in an infinite variety, is the largest of any manufacturing centre in the world, the A. Field & Son's branch of the Atlas corporation in itself ranking as the largest tack and small nail factory ever built. Engine and boiler construction, locomotive and printing-presses, cotton machinery, saws and coopers' tools, steam and hot water heating apparatus are among other forms to which the iron industry has been directed, and all are carried on in large factories employing a vast capital and an army of mechanics.
Cotton manufacture became an important feature early in the century, and it has held its own. To-day the most advantageous sites along the streams are devoted to weaving or spinning, and tall chimneys indicate the location of mills busily employed in helping clothe the world. Spinning mills for the production of cotton yarns are the favorite mode of investment. The valley of Taunton River has been found to possess just the right amount of dampness in the atmosphere to make yarn spinning particularly successful, especially in the finer grades. Another branch of business which has been of the greatest importance in the development of the city is that of britannia and silver ware. Nearly a century ago the first venture in that direction was begun in a small way, with indifferent success at first, and now the factory of Reed & Barton, making useful and ornamental wares of white metal, britannia, and German and solid silver, has the world for a market. Three other factories are also building up a reputation for excellent work in the britannia and silver line.
The position of Taunton at the head of navigation on 'Taunton River has always made shipping and vessel property a profitable investment, and one of its chief products, bricks, has been largely shipped by water. Other important industries are copper and yellow metal, crucibles, shoe buttons, barrels, boxes and carriages. The population of the city is about 30,000. Its valuation is between $18,000,000 and $19,000,000. There are three national, two savings and three co-operative banks. It is a county seat. Its public buildings are large and
attractive, its streets broad and well kept.
477
TAUNTON.
F RANCIS S. BABBITT carries an honored name in the Old Colony, for his ancestors were among the very first who dared the perils of the primeval wilder- ness. All through the two and a half centuries, since the incorporation of Taunton as a town, the name of Babbitt appears in connection with various positions of trust. The same thing is noticeable in the various towns which were cut out of the original purchase and made into separate municipalities. The Babbitt stock has been sturdy and vigorous, and has not been eliminated by emigration, which has wiped out so many of the old names from the town and city rec- ords. Mr. Babbitt was born in Taunton on Dec. 22, 1843. He was educated in the public schools of the town, at Bristol Academy and at Comer's Commercial School, Boston. In the spring of 1862, when the retreat of Banks's division caused a demand for more volunteers to recruit the Union Army, he enlisted in Company F, Fourth Regiment, Massa- chusetts Militia, for one month, but was discharged after three days' service in Boston, as the government decided that it did not need the new men. In August of the same year he enlisted in Company F, Thirty-ninth Massachusetts Volunteers, for three years' service. He served one year with the regiment, and was then detailed for service in the United States Signal Corps. For nearly two years he was busily engaged in that branch of military duty, being discharged on June 28, 1865, by reason of the close of the war. Returning to his old home he began the manufacture of machinery
FRANCIS S. BABBITT.
in the fall of 1865, and kept busily engaged in that business until 1890. He was chosen a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1882 and in 1883, and served on important committees of that body. In 1887 he was a member of the Board of Aldermen of Taunton, and in the fall of the same year was elected one of the three commissioners of Bristol County. He was re-elected in 1890. He was made chairman of the board when he took his seat in 1888, and is still serving in that capacity. In 1890 he was elected mayor of Taunton, and re-elected in 1891 and 1892. Mr. Babbitt has been a very efficient and faithful public officer. During his service as county commis- sioner, large expen- ditures have been necessary to fill the needs of the rapidly growing county, among them the splendid new court houses of Taunton and Fall River, the house of correction at New Bedford, bridges, etc., all re- quiring a vast amount of supervision and detail work from those charged with the care of the county business. Such, also, has been the case of the city during his administration. A constant growth in popu- lation, the call for improvements, and the necessity for providing for the wants of a rapidly growing munici- pality have made large expenditures and great care necessary. Mr. Babbitt has shown his sagacity on all trying occasions, and his repeated election to the manage- ment of municipal matters proves the estimation of his fellow - citizens, who have full confidence in his judgment.
478
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
C APTAIN SYLVANUS N. STAPLES was born in Taunton on Aug. 2, 1811. He received the usual common-school advantages of the country boys of those days and did his share of work which all had to assume. He had a fondness for the sea, and when not more than ten years old started as cabin boy on the river and bay, and having an aptness for the business rose through the various grades of seaman and mate, until at eighteen he had command of one of the large sloops which were popular freight car- riers. Those were days when steam had not yet clipped the wings of sailing craft, and an immense business was done all along the coast and to and from the West Indies by small ves- sels, which were able not only to dare the dangers of the seas but also ascend the rivers and accommo- date merchants al- most at their own doors. Captain Staples was so suc- cessful that he owned in several vessels when he was a very young man. The love of the brine has never left him, and through his long life he has always kept up an active financial interest in coasters, tugs, barges, steam- ers, and other marine property. In 1836 he began business upon land as well as upon the water and became a partner with Francis D. Williams in the wholesale and retail flour and grocery business, which has always been an important branch of Taunton trade. Hle afterwards bought out Mr. Williams and carried on the business alone, then with different partners, and built up a large trade with the West Indies, and also with coastwise towns on the Atlantic seaboard. He
SYLVANUS N. STAPLES.
next returned to freighting for a few years but changed in 1857 to a general commercial business, having Captain William H. Phillips as a partner. The articles handled by the firm were coal, iron, lime, hair, etc. The freight business was kept up as an important adjunct, and as years passed the firm of Staples & Phillips became one of the best known in New England, handling vast quantities of coal and iron and owning wholly or in part a fleet of vessels of all kinds which were always busy. To the firm of Staples & Phillips the im- provements in Taun- ton River are due. Their work, more than that of all others, called the attention of the gen- eral government to its value as a water way and secured the appropriations which have made it availa- ble for transporting coal by barge and schooner and naviga- ble for tugs and steamers engaged in business or pleasure purposes. The firm of Staples & Phillips was dissolved a few years since, and a large corporation known as the Staples Coal Company took its place. This cor- poration is one of the largest in that line in New England and hasan immense plant at Fall River and Taunton for the wholesale and retail coal business, besides a large flect of steamers and barges which ply between coal ports and New England. Of this corporation Captain Staples is the head. He is also a director in many corporations, and a citizen generally esteemed and honored for the important part he has played in the development of the material interests of Taunton. His name is familiar in every port along the Atlantic coast.
479
TAUNTON.
H ENRY G. REED was born in Taunton on July 23, ISIo, where his father was a merchant. He was educated in the public schools of the town and at Bris- tol Academy, in vacations and at odd times helping his father in the store. He was born with a love of me- chanics and preferred to work with tools when other lads were at play. Babbitt & Crossman were then engaged in the manufacture of britannia goods, and when eighteen years old Mr. Reed went into their shop as an apprentice. He devoted himself assiduously to the work and soon showed an expert- ness which won the commendation of his employers. The business passed into the hands of the Taunton Britannia Company, with whom Mr. Reed remained as journeyman, tak- ing charge of several departments until he became superin- tendent. In 1835 the company ceased business and Mr. Reed, with Charles Barton and Gustavus Leonard, believed that the work could be made a success, and in 1837 they began in a small way as Reed & Barton on about the site of the present extensive works which have grown up from such a small beginning. The determina- tion of the young firm was to make the best of goods and hold the market by honest workmanship and superior skill. The result justified their expectations. The little plant expanded until it now covers acres of ground with massive buildings, where in busy seasons eight hundred and more skilled mechanics are engaged in making electro-plated and solid silver goods, which active salesmen distribute all over the world. For years
HENRY G. REED.
the business was a partnership under the old firm name. More recently it was incorporated under the same name with George Brabrook and Frank L. Fish and Mr. Reed as the active members of the corporation. The develop- ment of this business has been one of the main factors of the growth of Taunton, as the wages earned by the skilled labor necessary has covered much of the eighth ward of the city with comfortable homes. The factory is always an attraction to visitors, and people from all parts of the country have for years visited it and watched the ingenuity with which plain metal is turned into gems of art. Mr. Reed's advancing years have never weakened his inter- est in the business, and he is as regu- larly at his place in the factory as any of the journeymen. His ingenuity, which be- gan to develop in his youth, has been of great value in the modelling depart- ment. He has been a director of the Taunton National Bank and Taunton Savings Bank for a generation, and his judgment on all questions affecting the public interest has -- always been sought by his fellow citizens, who recognize his sagacity and uprightness. It is seldom that a man who has spent as many of the best years of his life in build- ing up a tremendous business reaches a serene old age and sees the most ardent dreams of his youth realized. Mr. Reed has seen the village of Taunton grow into a flourishing city and has the satisfaction of knowing that the little britannia shop, with which nearly the whole of his active life has been closely identified, was a lead- ing factor in its growth.
480
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
C LOSELY connected with the widely-known manu- facturing house of Reed & Barton, is George Brabrook, who entered the service of the firm when a young man, has given the prime of his life to its service, and as one of the largest owners and the active busi- ness man of the corporation, has seen it grow into the giant enterprise of to-day. The ancestor of the Bra- brook family is believed to have emigrated from Scot- land to America in colonial days and to have settled in Concord, Mass. From him came all who bear the name in America. An elder brother, Alfred, first entered the : service of Reed & Barton, as salesman, and pushed the use of the ware of the firm all over the country. For more than fifty years as an efficient, valuable and ready salesman and conscientious and respected citi- zen, his name has also been connected with the interests of the great factory. George Brabrook was born in Acton, followed his brother to Taunton, and in 1850, when twenty- two years old, was given a place in the shipping department of the factory. His energy, devotion to business, and sagacity were soon recognized by the proprietors, and he was advanced from one position to another, all of which he filled with zeal, intelligence and fidelity to the interests intrusted to his care. His mind was of that business quality that gave him a ready adaptability for whatever sphere of action was his lot, and his employers learned that the young man could be relied upon at all times and in all places. He made it a point to learn the business, and did not hesitate to
give his best efforts and all his time to promoting the welfare of the firm. He was efficient not only in the shop but upon the road, and as a ready salesman helped extend the name and place the goods of the concern in all the leading cities and towns of the country. Such assiduity could not fail of securing the approbation of his employers. It was recognized in a substantial manner, and the young man who entered the works as a clerk in 1850 became one of the firm and its leading business manager in 1859. His rise was rapid, so far as years went, but it was earned by faithful work and an un- grudging devotion to duty. Mr. Brabrook has remained with the house ever since, seeing it grow into a firm with a business on its hands of tre- mendous volume and then a great corpo- ration with a reputa- tion world -wide. Such instances ot perseverance and promotion are not common in these days, when young men are unwilling to work a minute over time and drop busi- ness from their thoughts the minute the factory door closes behind them. Mr. Brabrook mar- ried Miss Eliza E. Knowles in 1860. She is a descendant of Rev. Samuel Danforth, the fourth minister of Taunton, although a native of Boston. His home is one of the notable residences of the city, with its wide lawns and clumps of trees. Of his two sons the elder is connected with the factory, which manufactures wares of German and solid silver, white metal and britannia, and is one of the most important, widely celebrated industries in New England. No little of its fame is due to Mr. Brabrook.
GEORGE BRABROOK.
481
TAUNTON.
W ILLIAM REED, JR., is a descendant of the old families which landed in Newbury and began the contest with the wilderness of New England in 1636. The maternal ancestor was one of the little band to which land was granted in what was then Haverhill, and the first farm marked out by metes and bounds was his. By the re-location of State lines the old homestead site is now in the town of Hampstead, N. H. The history of the early settlement of that town is stained with blood, as Indian raids down the Merrimack River were many. The records tell of fierce fighting, daring deeds, and the death of more than one of the family under the hatchet of the savage while the struggle for mastery was going on. Both his great- grandfathers served in the Revolutionary War, one at Bunker Hill, the other at Stillwater, where a British bullet lamed him for life. He was born in Newburyport in 1842, and, after preparing for college in the high schools of that city and Cambridge, entered Harvard College and was graduated as one of the prize men of the class of 1864. He began life as a teacher and was prin- cipal of the high schools of Edgartown and Nahant, Mass., Watertown, N. Y., and Erie, Penn. His atten- tion was attracted to journalism, and he became con- nected with the Fall River News, first, next with the Herald of Helena, Montana, afterwards with the Provi- dence Herald, and finally with the Taunton Daily Gazette, which he bought in 1872 and has edited and managed since. Mr. Reed has been an untiring worker and has built up his newspaper property so that it
WILLIAM REED, JR.
stands in the front rank of the provincial press of the State, and has much more than a local reputation. He has been a very active citizen of Taunton, and has often been called to fill positions of trust and responsibility. He has been president of the Board of Trade, sewer commissioner, member of the School Committee, has represented the district twice in the Legislature and once in the Senate, and served as an active and influen- tial leader in all things that have tended towards the commercial, moral and social advance- ment of the city. While serving in the Legislature he was made a member of the convict labor commission of the State, and was the author of the report which led to the es- tablishment of the reformatory at Con- cord and the separa- tion of convicts into two grades. He is also one of the di- rectors of the largest corporation with headquarters at Taunton - The Mas- sachusetts Real Es- tate Company- which has large in- vestments in the East and West. He is also president of the Massachusetts Press Association, and is connected with a large number of social, literary and business enterprises at his home and abroad. Always a Republican, in the councils of that party he has held an honored place, and has been often upon the stump in advocacy of its principles, preferring to work for the election of others to office rather than for himself, on the ground that the man who conducts a modern newspaper successfully has scope and work enough to demand the employment of all his time and energy.
FALL RIVER
P CALL RIVER, the leading cotton-manufacturing city of America, owes its origin indirectly to the expansion of the Plymouth Colony, the first settlement in the immediately adjacent region having been made about 1656. In that year, on the 3d of July, the General Court of Plymouth granted to a number of the freemen of the jurisdiction a tract of land east of the Taunton River, four miles in width and from six to seven in length, bounded on the south by Quequechan, and on the north by Assonet Neck. Three years later this grant was con- firmed by a warranty deed signed by the local sachems, the consideration being " twenty coats, two iron pots, two kettles and one little kettle, eight pairs of shoes, six pairs of stockings, one dozen hoes, one dozen hatchets, two yards of broadcloth, and a debt satisfied to John Barnes, which was due from Wamsitta to John Barnes." This grant was known after 1683 as Freetown.
The first settlers were principally from Plymouth, Marshfield and Scituate ; some were from Taunton and a few from Rhode Island. The region round about was gradually settled, until a considerable population resided in and about Freetown. By act of the Legislature of Feb. 26, 1803, a considerable part of the ancient proprietary of Freetown was detached and erected into a township named Fall River (changed to Troy in 1804, and again to its present name in 1834). There was early a dispute as to the State boundary line, which continued a vexatious feature until it was settled in 1861, after which the citizens of Fall River were no longer obliged to acknowledge two jurisdictions, and received a considerable addition to their territory, population and wealth. In 1854 the thriving town was made a city. In 1850 its population was 11,524 ; in 1870, 26,766 ; and in 1890, 74,398.
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