USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 61
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
Fall River is, in every sense, the embodiment of the sagacity, energy and successful industry of her own people. No city or town engaged in similar pursuits has greater cause for satisfaction, or can refer to stronger reasons for the exercise of a just pride in the achievements of her own citizens. The motto of her corporate seal is "We'll try," and though she has met reverses in the form of conflagrations and strikes in her mills, she has successfully passed through them and risen to still greater importance. Nature gave to her a water power in the stream from which the city takes her name that is almost unequalled ; and along its whole course the mills stand like the buildings in a city street. In one year eleven mills were erected, each with from thirty thousand to forty thousand spindles, and costing over ten million dollars, and employing over five thousand hands. In 1876 there were thirty-three mill corporations operating forty mills, with an incorporated capital of $14,735,000. The first mill in the neighborhood was that erected by Colonel Joseph Durfee, in what is now Globe Village, in 18II. The first regular cloth-manufacturing enterprise was that inaugurated in 1813, and from this, properly speaking, has grown the great industry of to-day. Statistics are bewildering; these for the year 1892 will tell of the present condition of the Fall River cotton mills : thirty-six corporations operating fifty-nine mills, paid out in dividends in the year $2, 155,860, on a capital of $19,518,000, or an average of 11.04 per cent. In 1891 the same corpora- tions paid out $956,450, or an average of 4.90 per cent.
Fall River is a port of entry, and the district includes the ports of Taunton, Dighton, Somerset, Freetown and Swansea. The famous Fall River Line, a favorite route between Boston and New York, makes this city one of its three points of departure and arrival, and there are other steamboat lines centering here. The City Hall, the Durfee Memorial School and the Bristol County Court House are among the notable buildings. The educa- tional and religious features have kept pace with the city's growth in population and importance, and no city in southeastern Massachusetts has greater advantages. There are a free public library and several circulating libra- ries, all of which are supplied with the latest publications and are accessible to all. There are also private and society libraries and local book clubs of special value to members. The Fall River press includes three evening dailies, and the weekly newspapers are able and representative. On July 4, 1876, the citizens celebrated by a magnificent series of exercises the one hundredth anniversary of American Independence.
483
FALL RIVER.
J JOHN W. COUGHLIN, M. D., mayor of Fall River, was born in that city, June 9, 1861. His parents were William and Abbie Coughlin. He attended the Fall River public schools until 1878. . In that year he started to learn the trade of a steam and gas fitter, which trade his father, now deceased, followed before him. In 1879, after a year's work, he entered the law office of Coffey & Dubuque in Fall River, but in the spring of 1880 he left that office to enter the employ of the Providence Steam and Gas Pipe Company ; there he remained about eighteen months, and then returned to Fall River, to enter the drug store of Dr. John B. Chagnon, on Bedford Street. After about fourteen months in that place, he resolved to study medicine. He was without means, but he determined to seek some employ- ment by which he could get the funds needed to carry him through college. He sought and obtained a place as conductor on the Globe Street Railway, which he held about a year. In the fall of 1882, he was enabled to begin the study of medicine ; he entered the office of Dr. Charles C. Terry and in the next spring entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Baltimore, and took a spring course of studies. He then returned to Dr. Terry's office for the summer, and in the fall resumed his college studies, which he pursued until March, 1885, when he was graduated. He stood at the head of his class of one hundred and sixty-one men, and received the first college prize, the Cathell Medal, for the highest average scholarship. He had opportunity to
JOHNJ W. COUGHLIN.
enter any one of several Baltimore hospitals, but he chose to return to his own city after graduation, and here, among his acquaintances, early acquired a lucra- tive practice. In 1888 Dr. Coughlin received the Democratic nomination for mayor of Fall River, but was defeated at the polls by about three hundred votes. In 1889 he ran again, when he was antago- nized by those who until then were the prime factors in the local Democracy, and was again defeated by about one hundred votes. In 1890 he was again nominated by the Democrats, and, in spite of bitter and aggressive oppo- sition from the lead- ers of his party, was elected by eight hun- dred and eight votes. In 1891 he was re- elected on the Dem- ocratic ticket by nine hundred and twenty- seven majority ; and in 1892 on the same ticket by eight hun- dred and twenty-two majority. In the lat- ter year Mayor Coughlin attended the National Demo- cratic Convention in Chicago as the dele- gate of the Thirteenth Congressional Dis- trict. Before he was elected a delegate he was a pronounced Cleveland advocate. He was, in fact, one of the first to favor the nomination of Cleveland, and he publicly expressed his choice for the presidency at a dinner of the Young Men's Democratic Club in New Bedford, which was practically the first gun for Grover Cleveland fired in Massachusetts. At the National Convention he supported Stevenson for Vice-President. Mayor Coughlin has continued the practice of medicine to the present time, and is recognized as a leading practitioner of the city.
484
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
A RNOLD BORDEN SANFORD, president of the Fall River Board of Trade and of the Sanford Spinning Company, and treasurer of the Globe Yarn Mills, was born in Goldsboro, N. C., Feb. 11, 1846, the son of John P. Sanford, who left Fall River in 1840, settled in Goldsboro, and returned with his family to his native place in 1857. After attending school, Arnold B. Sanford began work in a woollen mill in Rhode Island. His intention had been to learn the woollen-manufac- turing business, but his health becoming affected, he was obliged to make a change, and em- barked in the hard- ware business. In 1869 he was married to Miss H. Emma Warren, daughter of Edward Warren, a well-known and es- teemed citizen of the city. Their children are five in number, two of them, Mabel W. and Martha C., being students of Smith College, North- ampton, Mass. In 1873 Mr. Sanford joined Mr. Thomas D. Covel in forming the well-known firm of Sanford & Covel, dealers in mill sup- plies and hardware. This firm carried on a prosperous busi- ness for nine years. In 1881 Mr. Sanford retired from the firm, as his health required a change, and turned his attention to cotton manufacturing. He proceeded to organize the Globe Yarn Mills, at Globe Village, a corporation now of national reputation. The organization of the company was effected with a capital of $200,000, and Mr. Sanford was elected treasurer. Cold water was thrown upon the venture by local in- vestors in print-cloth mills, and many predicted early failure because the mill was not to make print cloths.
But the projectors were not discouraged ; they started successfully, and their success has been remarkable every year. They established the most extensive plant for the manufacture of yarns in this country. Within ten years the stockholders built and equipped three large mills, with 100,000 spindles, on a capital of $1,200,000, an actual investment of $1,600,000. Four times the capital of the concern was increased. It is apparent how largely the success of this enterprise was and is due to Mr. Sanford, who has been its treasurer all these years. In 1892 Mr. Sanford organ- ized the Sanford Spinning Company. This company was named for him, in recognition of the splendid efforts which he had con- tributed to the suc- cess of the earlier enterprise. The capital on which or- ganization was ef- fected was $450,000. This was secured within two weeks, and included an over-subscription of $50,000. This mill will be ready to go into operation early in 1893. Mr. San- ford is president and director of other corporations in the city. He was a prime mover toward the organization in 1890 of the Fall River Board of Trade, and is now its president. His interest in public and private charities keeps pace with his interest in business and the material progress of the city. He is a warm friend of the Home for Aged People, and aids other relig- ious, charitable and useful organizations in the commun- ity. In religion Mr. Sanford is a Baptist, and in politics a Republican. He is a strong Protectionist, being one of the founders of the Home Market Club of Boston.
ARNOLD B. SANFORD.
485
FALL RIVER.
OSEPH A. BOWEN was born in Fall River, Oct. 10, J 1832. He is a son of the late Abraham Bowen, who died about three years ago in his eighty-sixth year, and Sarah Ann Bowen, who has since died in her eighty-eighth year. He is a grandson of the agent of the first cotton mill that was erected in the city. At that period there were no banks, and the silver dollars in which payment for shares was made were put on the bottom of the old-fashioned clock for safe keeping. The old farm-house of Mr. Bowen's grandfather was one of the ancient land- marks of Fall River, and was located at the corner of Bed- ford and North Main streets, while his farm extended from Bedford to Elm Street, and from the bay to Watuppa Pond. He was one of the most promi- nent and influential men in the commu- nity. Mr. Bowen has always resided in Fall River. He learned the printer's trade and worked at job and newspaper printing, in his father's office, most of the time from his eighth to his twenty-third year, attending the public schools of his native town at intervals. In 1856 he went into the coal business, in which he has ever since been engaged. From the nature of his business, Mr. Bowen has for many years been inter- ested in navigation and harbor improvements. He is the agent and the largest owner of two four-masted schooners, and has had a large amount of dredging and rock-removing done at his own expense. He has thus secured the greatest depth of water at his wharves of any firm in the port of Fall River. Mr. Bowen was
JOSEPH A. BOWEN.
married, Jan. 19, 1865, to Miss Fanny M. Corey, of Fall River. Their children are Joseph H. Bowen and Fanny C. Bowen. Mr. Bowen has several times been called upon by his fellow-citizens to accept public office. He was a member of the Fall River Common Council in 1862 and 1863, and of the Board of Aldermen in 1869 and 1870. He was appointed by Mayor Brown in 1869 chairman of the Committee on Water Supply, with power to investigate the general subject. After several months' considera- tion of the subject, visiting various cities, and having the water of different wells analyzed, he wrote the report to the City Council, recom- mending the taking of the water of the North Watuppa Pond for a supply ; which report was adopted by the city govern- ment, and being sub- mitted to the people at a special election, met an almost unani- mous approval. Mr. Bowen was elected one of the original water commission- ers, and put a large amount of energy into the work of pushing that great and beneficent work to a successful and speedy completion, he and another pur- chasing the reservoir land on their own responsibility, to keep it from the hands of speculators, and assisting the engineers in every possible way to overcome the many obstacles incident to the natural location of Fall River. Mr. Bowen is first vice-president of the Fall River Board of Trade, in which he is one of the most active workers. He is a Repub- lican, though of late years he has not been an active political worker. Mr. Bowen and his family have long been connected with the Central Congregational Church.
486
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
R OBERT T. DAVIS, M. D., was born in County Down, north of Ireland, Aug. 28, 1823, his father being John Davis and his mother Sarah (Thompson) Davis. His parents came to the United States when he was three years old, and settled in Amesbury, Essex County, Mass. His father was of the Presbyterian faith, and his mother was a Friend. He was educated in the Amesbury public schools and at the academy, and in the Friends' School in Providence, R. I. Upon the completion of his preparatory educa- tion he took a course in the medical de- partment of Harvard University, and re- ceived his diploma in 1847. He then engaged in the prac- tice of medicine in Waterville, Me. After remaining there three years he re- moved, in 1850, to Fall River, where he has ever since re- sided. Dr. Davis early took a deep interest in political affairs, and has held many offices of honor and trust. He was a member of the fa- mous Constitutional Convention of 1853, and was elected to the Massachusetts Sen- ate in 1858 and 1860. He was a delegate to the National Repub- lican Conventions of 1860 and 1876. The citizens of Fall River chose him as their mayor for the year 1873. He was a member of the State Board of Charities when it was organized in 1863 ; was appointed to the State Board of Health in 1869, on its organization, and remained a member until it was merged with the State Board of Health, Lunacy and Charity, in 1879, when he became a mem- ber of that board. Dr. Davis has made a most excel- lent record as member of the national House of Rep-
ROBERT T. DAVIS.
resentatives. He was elected to the Forty-eighth Congress, and re-elected to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses on the Republican ticket. He has been a member of the Sewerage Commission, president of the Bristol County South Medical Society, councillor of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and a member of the American Medical and the National Public Health associations. Locally, Dr. Davis, while for several years retired alike from the practice of his profession and engagement in pub- lic matters, has shown deep interest in the common welfare, and has several times raised his voice in behalf of popular ad- vantages when pub- lic questions have been discussed. He resides on High Street, his family con- sisting of his wife and one son (Robert C. Davis), the former having been Miss Susan A. Haight, of New Castle, N. Y., to whom he was wed- ded in June, 1862. He had previously married Miss Sarah Wilbur, who died in 1856. In public speech Dr. Davis is deliberate, clear, forceful and often eloquent. Grace and strength are com- bined in an individ- ual style in his writ- ing. He has been carnestly interested in the cause of education in the city, and one of the public schools has been named for him. Dr. Davis has also established a fund, the proceeds of which are used for the purchase of the " Davis Prize Medal," for the encouragement of scholarship. He has been a member of the Commercial Club since its organization ; is president of the Wam- panoag Mills and a director in five other manufacturing corporations.
487
FALL RIVER.
C HARLES JARVIS HOLMES, son of the late Charles Jarvis and Louisa (Haskell) Holmes, was born, March 4, 1834, in Rochester, Mass. His father, as was his father before him, was a lawyer, a prominent member of the Bristol County bar, and for a long period was a member of the Massachusetts Legis- lature, and at one time a member of the governor's council. Charles Jarvis Holmes was five years old when he removed with his parents to Taunton, and nine years old when he and they removed to Fall River, where he has since resided. He attended the public schools of the city, and was a mem- ber of the first class formed in the Fall River High School, graduating in 1853. After graduation, being nineteen years old, he entered the service of the Massa- soit Bank. At the age of twenty-one he was elected treas- urer of the Five Cent Savings Bank, which position he still holds. In the same year he was elected cashier of the Wam- sutta Bank, which in 1 864 became the Second National Bank. He still oc- cupies this position. Mr. Holmes is presi- dent of the King Philip Mills and of the Sagamore Mill, and a director in the Border City Mills. Mr Holmes was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1873, and of the Senate in 1877 and 1878, being chairman of the Banking Committee. His service in the State Legis- lature was a most active and useful one. He served in the Fall River Board of Aldermen two years. He was a member of the School Committee for sixteen years, during which time he exerted a strong influence upon
CHARLES J. HOLMES.
the educational affairs of the city. Mr. Holmes has been a trustee of the Public Library -which office he still holds-thirty years. He is chairman of the Civil Service Commission of the Fall River district, and has been a member of the Board of Overseers of the Poor of Fall River since the board was created during the adminis- tration of Mayor Jackson. He is also chairman of the committee of Associated Savings Banks of the State, of which committee he has been a leading member for nearly thirty years, and he has been a long time in municipal positions requiring financial sagacity. Mr. Holmes was married May 4, 1858, to Miss Mary A. Remington, daughter of Joshua and Joanna Remington, in Fall River ; and their children are Mary L., Anna C. and Charles L. Holmes. The latter is associated with his father in the business of the local bank named. Mr. Holmes has long been a member and is the senior deacon of the Central Con- gregational Church. His position in the community is that of a progressive busi- ness man, a respected citizen and a co-op- erator in all move- ments started for the improvement of the condition of the people. On finan- cial and municipal affairs Mr. Holmes is considered one of the best authorities in the city, and his opinion is frequently sought on difficult questions. His long experience in official and business life, and his high standing as man and citizen, will qualify him to rank among the representative men of the Commonwealth. In Fall River no man is more highly esteemed for his fine qualities of mind and heart than Mr. Holmes.
488
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
G EORGE ALBERT CHACE was born in Somerset, Mass., opposite Fall River, Sept. 16, 1844, and was the son of Albert Gordon Chace and Sarah Shearman (Purinton) Chace. He passed his boyhood in Somerset, and was educated in the common schools of that town. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in the Third Regi- ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, commanded by Colonel Silas P. Richmond. He joined the command of General Foster in North Carolina, went through that campaign, and was mustered out in July, 1 863. Returning from the war, he entered, in May, 1864, the office of Charles O. Shove, the projector and treasurer of the Granite Mills, and was given every opportunity by Mr. Shove to acquire a thorough knowledge of the cotton-manu- facturing business as then conducted in Fall River. Ten years later, in 1874, he was elected treas- urer and manager of the Shove Mills, and built and equipped Shove Mill No. I un- der the direction and plans of Mr. Shove, and in 1880 planned and equipped Shove Mill No. 2. These two mills contained about sixty thousand spindles and one thousand five hundred looms. In the following year Mr. Chace was elected treasurer and manager of the Bourne Mills, in North Tiverton, adjoin- ing Fall River. Mr. Chacc planned, built and equipped these mills with about forty-three thousand spindles and one thousand two hundred and sixty looms. Mr. Chace and the mills are widely known by reason of his system of profit sharing, which was introduced in 1889, by which the operatives, in proportion to their wages, share with
GEORGE A. CHACE.
the owners in the profits of the company. This system has been written about and discussed extensively with reference to its operation in the Bourne Mills, and Mr. Chace, as treasurer and manager of the mills, has con- tributed articles to leading newspapers explaining its advantages. It is now as successful as ever in these mills. In 1884 Mr. Chace resigned the management of the Shove Mills, though he is still a director and one of the larger stockholders. Mr. Chace is a member of the Association for Promotion of Profit Sharing, of which there are seventy-four mem- bers in the United States. Mr. Chace was for ten years a director of the Mas- sasoit National Bank, resigning in 1892. He was married in 1870 to Miss Sarah Anna Brownell, daughter of Mr. Fenner Brownell, of Fall River. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Chace are Eleanor Sarah Chace and Fenner Albert Chace ; the former is a student in Welles -* ley College, and the latter is preparing in the high school for Harvard University. Mr. Chace was one of the projectors of the moral and educa- tional work now in progress for boys in Fall River, and is vice-president of the Boys' Club and of the Young Men's Christian Association, and chairman of its extension committees. Mr. Chace has a peculiar fondness for the study of lan- guages, and has acquired by private application during leisure hours an acquaintance with Greek, Latin, Ger- man, French, Spanish, Italian and Swedish. Mr. Chace has a modest summer cottage, "The Sea Breeze," at Stone Bridge, in Tiverton, R. I.
489
FALL RIVER.
S TEPHEN BARNABY ASHLEY, son of William H. and Joannah (Barnaby) Ashley, was born in the suburb of Fall River now known as Steep Brook, Dec. 25, 1850. His parents were of English descent on his father's side, and of Scottish on his mother's side. Mr. Ashley went to Fall River to live in 1857; attended the public schools of the city and studied about two years in the High School, after which he went to Brooklyn, N. Y., and spent two years in the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. He then returned to Fall River, and worked as a clerk in the ready-made clothing store of his father. After about four years he was admitted to partnership in his father's business, the firm name being W. H. & S. B. Ashley, and the business being conducted at No. 20 North Main Street. In 1876 this firm closed out its affairs, and Stephen B. Ashley became a coal merchant, which business he carried on three or four years. In 1880 he sold out, and with Stephen Davol, of Fall River, and Byron Smith, of Providence, bought the Middlebury, Vt., cotton mills, which the three operated about a year and a half, making cotton yarn. In February, 1882, with William F. Draper, of Hopedale, J. B. Barnaby, of Prov- idence, Simeon B. Chase, of Fall River, and others, he organized the Barnaby Manufacturing Company, of which he has since been the treasurer. The mill of this company is located in the eastern part of the city ; its business is the manufacture of fine colored cotton prod- ucts, or what are called " fine zephyr goods." This mill was the first one of its kind erected in this country, and
STEPHEN B. ASHLEY.
the first combing machines for the combing of fine yarn which were operated in this section were run in this mill. The mill employs about four hundred and fifty hands. The business, which has a capital of four hun- dred thousand dollars, has paid liberally from the start. It is noteworthy as the only enterprise out of the ordi- nary run of cotton mills and other closely related enter- prises which has been a success since the erection of cotton mills began in Fall River.
The goods made at the Barnaby mill are sent to every State in the Union, and the reputation of the firm has become firmly established. Mr. Ashley was mar- ried on Feb. 18, 1874, to Miss Har- riette Remington Davol, of Fall River, daughter of Stephen and Sarah F. Davol ; their children are : Mary Easton, Anna Byron, William H. and Stephen B. Ash- ley. They reside on Highland Avenue in a large and attractive house, which has been recently erected. In the so- cial life of Fall River he is as well- known as in busi- ness circles. He has travelled much abroad in the course of advancing his business, and is known at home and elsewhere as an active, devoted and progressive business man. He is a director in the National Union Bank of Fall River and in the Colum- bia Mutual Life Assurance Company of Providence. In politics, Mr. Ashley is an active Republican, and is a member of the Republican State Central Committee. On all subjects relating to the cotton manufacturing industry Mr. Ashley is well posted, and is one of the best authorities in the city.
490
MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
L EONTINE LINCOLN, who was born in Fall River Dec. 26, 1846, is descended from Thomas Lin- coln, a sturdy New England pioneer, who settled in Taunton in 1652, and is the son of Jonathan Thayer and Abby (Luscomb) Lincoln. He was educated in Fall River and at Providence, R. I. At nineteen he formed a connection with the business house of Kilburn, Lincoln & Co., a large concern engaged in the manu- facture of cotton and silk looms, of which he is now treasurer, having become thoroughly acquainted with the details of the business. He has since extended his commercial inter- ests in a great many different directions, however, and is pres- ident and a director of the Second Na- tional Bank, presi- dent of the Seacon- net Mills, a director in the Hargraves Mill, a director in the Tecumseh and King Philip Mills, a director in the Bar- nard Manufacturing Company and the Crystal Spring Bleaching and Dye- ing Company. His connection with the cause of education in the city of Fall River has always been earnest, active and prominent. He has been a member of the School Committee since 1879, and its chairman since 1888 ; has been a trustee of the Fall River Free Public Library since 1878, and its secretary and treasurer since 1879. He is the sec- retary of the Board of Trustees of the B. M. C. Durfee High School, and a member of the Old Colony Histori- cal Society. The High Street school, which he attended in early life, was named, in honor of him, the Lincoln School, a few years ago. Mr. Lincoln was married in
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.