USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts of today; a memorial of the state, historical and biographical, issued for the World's Columbian exposition at Chicago > Part 9
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
R' EV. MICHAEL A. O'KANE, S. J., president of the College of the Holy Cross, was born in County Clare, Ireland, July 12, 1849. When he was but three months old his parents came to America and settled in Spencer, Mass., where he received his early education. After passing through the public schools, including the High School of Spencer, he entered Holy Cross College in 1865, the year of its formal incorporation. In the third year of his college course, July, 1867, Michael O'Kane became a member of the So- ciety of Jesus, and left Holy Cross to pursue the philosoph- ical and theologi- cal studies required by the order, at Woodstock College, Md. Here he spent nine years, and on completing his course, in 1876, was made professor of classics in George- town College. He remained at George- town six years, hold- ing in turn the pro- fessorships of classics and of philosophy. Then for four years he was prefect of studies at George- town, and for two years vice-president of the college. In August, 1887, he was made rector and master of novices in the Novitiate at Frederick, Md., the home of the Jesuits. This posi- tion he held for two years, and then, in 1889, was transferred to Worcester to become president of the College of the Holy Cross. The college was founded by Bishop Fenwick in 1843, and was incorporated in 1865. It provides a classical and scientific education for youth of the Catholic church. For a number of years after its establishment, degrees were conferred on its graduates by Georgetown College, the State of Massachusetts refus-
ing it a charter. In 1865, largely by the influence of Governor Andrew and Hon. Alexander H. Bullock, a charter was obtained. Father O'Kane found the college with about two hundred and twenty pupils, and in the three years of his administration has seen it grow to over three hundred, and so cramped for room as to be forced to refuse admission to many applicants. Under its original regulations the college received pupils as young as eight years, but this has been changed from time to time, and Father O'Kane has recently raised the age of entrance to fourteen. The col- lege has grown in re- sources as well as in numbers under Father O' Kane's management. The estate, which includes a well cultivated farm of one hundred and seventy-six acres, in addition to its pleas- ure grounds and buildings, has been greatly improved. A large addition to the main building is now in process of construction, larger in fact than the old structure. The space thus acquired will be used to relieve the present cramped quarters. In the basement will be a finely equipped gym- nasium with a swim- ming tank. The main floors will be used for the scien- tific department, for class rooms, library and museum, and the upper floor with its ten thousand feet of surface will be cut up into dormitories. Like most college presidents of the present day, Father O'Kane devotes his time to the administration of the great interests com- mitted to his charge, rather than to individual teaching. He is greatly beloved by the students, and is equally popular among the parishes of the vicinity.
MICHAEL A. O'KANE.
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
R EV. EDWARD IGNATIUS DEVITT, S. J., the eighth president of Boston College, was born on Dec. 13, 1841. He received his early education in the public schools of his native city, Boston, being a Franklin medal scholar from the Eliot School for the year 1854. After graduating from the English High School he entered the College of the Holy Cross, at Worcester, Mass. After devoting several years to the study of Latin and Greek, he left the college without being graduated, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1859. He spent the cus- tomary two years on probation at Fred- erick City, Md., and then devoted himself to a further study of the classics. From 1863 to 1869, he taught at Gonzaga College, at Washing- ton, D. C. The next seven years of his life were spent at the College of the Sacred Heart at Woodstock, Md., three of which he devoted to the study of philosophy and four to the study of theology. He was ordained in 1875 by Most Rev. James R. Bayley, arch- bishop of Baltimore. Having now com- pleted the regular course of studies re- quired by the institute of the society, he returned to Holy Cross College as professor of rhetoric. The next year he lectured on philosophy in the same institution, and in 1879 he was appointed to the chair of philos- ophy at the College of the Sacred Heart, at Woodstock, where he himself had studied, and where even at the present time the Jesuits congregate from all parts of the United States to finish their studies. Here he remained four years. The two succeeding years were spent at
EDWARD | DEVITT.
Georgetown University, where he also lectured on phi- losophy. He then returned to Woodstock to occupy the chair of theology, left vacant by the elevation of the famous Father Mazzella to the rank of cardinal. In 1888 he again returned to the College of the Holy Cross, as professor of philosophy, and in January, 1891, he was appointed president of Boston College to succeed the Rev. Robert Fulton, S. J. The past two years of the Rev. Father Devitt's life have been so closely con- nected with Boston College that it seems only fitting to say a word of that famous institution. It was founded in 1863, but opened its doors for the first time in Sep- tember, 1864. The Rev. Father Bapst was its first presi- dent. The school opened with about forty pupils, but soon began to grow. Dur- ing the administra- tion of the Rev. Father Fulton, who was appointed to the presidency in 1870, the growth was very rapid, and in 1877 the first class was graduated. Every year has marked a large increase in the number of students. At present there are three hundred and sixty in actual attend- ance. This is an increase of fifty over last year. The institution stands in the first rank among Catholic colleges. Nearly all the younger clergymen of the archdiocese of Boston are graduates of this college, and many of its alumni occupy prominent positions in professional and political life. Father Devitt has successfully devoted himself to the maintenance of the old standard in the study of the ancient languages, and has set about bringing the course of mathematics up to the required standard.
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
TH THE Massachusetts Agricultural College was incor- porated in 1863, under an act passed by the Legislature that same year, by which the State accepted the national grant of three hundred and sixty thousand acres of land donated for that purpose. On May 24, 1864, the town of Amherst, having offered superior inducements, was selected by the trustees as the loca- tion of the new institution. To secure the college, the town pledged itself to give $75,000 toward the erection of the buildings, and also to provide a site at a favorable figure. The site embraced about three hundred and eighty-four acres, and the original cost of land and build- ings was $43,000. The object of the college is to give a practical and liberal education in each department, and in- struction, both theo- retical and practical, is given in agriculture, horticulture, and also in military tactics, be- sides the regular class-room work. Graduates of the col- lege receive the de- gree of bachelor of science. Henry Hill Goodell, president of the college and the director of its one hundred and eighty students, was born at Constantinople, Turkey, May 20, 1839, his parents being Rev. William and Abigail Perkins (Davis) Goodell. He prepared for college at Williston Seminary, graduating in 1858. Four years later he graduated from Amherst. His alma mater conferred upon him the degree of master of arts in 1865, and doctor of laws in 1890. Immediately after his graduation he enlisted in the Union army, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of the Twenty-Fifth Connecticut Volunteers, Ang. 16, 1862, and in April of the
HENRY H. GOODELL.
following year he was promoted to a first lieutenancy at the battle of Irish Bend. He was subsequently ap- pointed an aide on the staff of Col. G. P. Bissell of the Third Brigade, fourth division of the Nineteenth Army Corps. During his term of service he was engaged in the battles of Irish Bend, Vermilion, the first expe- dition to Port Hudson, siege of Port Hudson, Têche campaign and Donaldsonville, and was one of the volun- teers in the "forlorn hope " called for by General Banks. Returning from the war, he was from 1864 to 1867 an in- structor at Williston Seminary, resigning to take the chair of modern languages and English litera- ture at the Massa- chusetts Agricultural College, which posi- tion he held until 1886, when he was unanimously chosen to the presidency of the institution. President Goodell has shown himself to be peculiarly well fitted for the position which he occupies, and it may be said, without reflection upon the ability of his predecessors in office, that much of the success of the college has been the result of his well- directed cffort. His central idea has been to broaden the sphere of the college, and the ever- increasing enrolment attests his success. President Goodell was elected a director of the Hatch Agricultural Experiment Station of the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1888. He was also a representative in the Legislature of 1885 and 1886. President Goodell was married, Dec. 10, 1873, to Helen E., daughter of John and Sophia (Cook) Stanton, of New Orleans, La. They have two sons.
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
W ELLESLEY COLLEGE, of which Helen A. Shafer is the third and present president, has a strong claim upon the affections of the women, not only of Massachusetts, but of the whole of America. It has long since more than realized the splendid dream of its founder, Henry F. Durant, and has settled the question once and forever as to whether it is well for women to go to college. Half a century ago, it could be said with truth that "female education is particularly interesting because it is a perfectly un- tried experiment," but the existence of such splendid insti- tutions of learning for women as Welles- ley has wiped that reproach from the face of history. The college of which Miss Shafer is the head became a fac- tor in our civilization when the corner- stone was laid Sept. 14, 1871. The founder's ideas were entirely unconven- tional. He stipu- lated that men and women should con- stitute the Board of Trustees, but that women should con- stitute the faculty. The most radical departure from the conventional rut lies in the fact that there is no marking system indicating class rank and honors, the idea being that knowledge should be acquired for itself alone. It is also part of the original platform of Wellesley that the Bible should be recognized as the foundation of all learning. Helen A. Shafer is a native of New Jersey. She graduated at Oberlin College in 1863. From 1865 to 1875 she had charge of the mathematical instruction in the Central High School at St. Louis, Mo. From 1877 till her election to the presidency at Wellesley, she
HELEN A. SHAFER.
was the professor of mathematics at the latter institution. In 1878 she took the degree of master of arts at Ober- lin. Her work in mathematics at St. Louis brought Miss Shafer national renown, and was highly commended by Dr. William T. Harris, the eminent educator. As president of the college, Miss Shafer's executive ability has proved no less remarkable than her mathematical attainments, and is attested in the character of the institution over which she presides. Holding to the Wellesley idea that the college should allow a wide range of elective studies, President Shafer has steadily advanced its intellectual and ethi- cal progress. She is, however, a firm believer in the im- portance of classical and mathematical training. The sys- tem at Wellesley is a judicious mingling of what is good in the systems obtain- ing both in the old and the new world. Prominence is given to instruction by means both of lec- tures and recita- tions. President Shafer is fortu- nate in guiding the destinies of the college at a time when all the desires and predictions of its founder are in process of fulfilment, a condition that is as rare as it is satisfactory. Wellesley is happy in the possession of both an art school and a conservatory of music. The conservatory has arrangements for forty pianos and a pipe organ, with a recital hall for choral classes. The college library contains the entire private library of Mr. Durant, which contained a portion of the famous Rufus Choate collection. It has also been enriched by an endowment from the late Prof. Eben Norton Horsford.
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
R EV. DR. LAURENUS CLARK SEELYE, president of Smith College at Northampton and a promi- nent educator, was born in the town of Bethel, Fairfield County, Conn., Sept. 20, 1837, his parents being Seth and Abigail (Taylor) Seelye. During his boyhood he studied in the public and private schools, taking a pre- paratory course for admission to Union College, which he entered in 1853. He was graduated four years later, but remained to take a postgraduate course, which he finished in a year. He then entered Andover Theological Seminary and stud- ied for two years in the junior and mid- dle classes. Leaving Andover, he went to Europe, and for nearly three years travelled on the con- tinent and in Egypt and Palestine. While abroad he spent one winter in the Univer- sity of Berlin, and one summer in the University of Heidel- berg, after which he returned to his native land. In 1863 he was ordained and installed as pastor of the North Congre- gational Church in Springfield, one of the largest and most rep- resentative churches in the city, and re- mained in this posi- tion for two years, or until 1865, when he was called to the chair of rhetoric and English literature at Amherst College, of which his brother, Julius Hawley Seelye, was president at a later (late. That position Rev. Dr. Seelye occupied until 1873, when he was unanimously chosen as the first president of Smith College, an institution for the higher education of women, which was chartered in 1871 and located at Northampton. It is on account of his con- nection with this college, of which he is still the head,
LAURENUS CLARK SEELYE.
that he is best and most widely known, although he was generally recognized as an able and progressive teacher when a member of the faculty at Amherst. His present field, however, has given him a broader scope for his abilities, and he has ever been alert to grasp every opportunity, when offered, or to make one, when miss- ing. The first college building was dedicated in July, 1875, with appropriate addresses by Governor Gaston, Professor W. S. Tyler, D. D., LL. D., President Seelye, and Rev. Dr. A. P. Pea- body. The college was opened for the reception of pupils in the following Sep- tember, and under the able administra- tion of its president the number of pupils has grown from four- teen to seven hun- dred, while it has happened more than once, in the last few years, that the de- mand for admission has taxed the insti- tution to its utmost. He has in truth fol- lowed the wish of the founder, that the college should grant a degree as high as that of any college or university in the country, and Smith College stands to-day the peer of the high- est. With his other duties he has also found time to write some articles on Celtic literature that were published in Putnam's and Scribner's magazines, besides several addresses upon educational themes. He married Hen- rietta, daughter of Lyman and Harriet Chapin, of Albany, N. Y., in November, 1863, and they have six children living. Both in the educational and the theological work of his life, President Seelye has shown evidences of wide culture, his mind having been broadened by extensive travel and profound research.
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
G RANVILLE STANLEY HALL, president of Clark University, is the son of Granville Bascom and Abby Beals Hall, and was born in Ashfield, Mass., in 1846. He prepared for college at Sanderson Academy in Ashfield and at Willeston Seminary, Easthampton, and then entered Williams College, where he was graduated in the class of 1867. After five years of study in European universities, he began his career as a teacher at Antioch College, Ohio. He went from Antioch to Harvard, where he was instructor in English until 1877. He then went to Johns Hopkins Uni- versity at Baltimore, and held the profes- sorship of psychology there when called to the presidency of Clark University in Worcester. While in Baltimore he founded the American Journal of Psychology in 1887, of which he still continues to be the editor. When Jonas G. Clark con- ceived the idea of establishing an insti- tution for advanced study and individual research, and called to his assistance the gentlemen who formed the board of trustees, the unani- mous choice of Dr. Hall as president of the new university was commended by the educational world. Dr. Hall accepted the position in 1888, and spent the next ten months in the study of the educational systems of Europe. The result of his investigations was embodied in the courses of Clark University, which was opened in 1889. The institution fills a unique position as an edu- cational institution, supplying opportunities for research in abstract science such as no other institution in the world gives. Its methods are largely the creation of )
Dr. Hall, and have been directed by him from the start. Dr. Hall received the degree of master of arts at Wil- liams College in 1870 ; that of doctor of philosophy at Harvard in 1878; that of doctor of laws at the Uni- versity of Michigan in 1888, and again at Williams in 1889. Since his incumbency of the presidency of Clark University, Dr. Hall has inaugurated the Pedagogical Seminary, the first number of which appeared in 1891. He continues to be its editor. Dr. Hall is a frequent contributor to scien- tific publications, and has published a num- ber of extended works in his depart- ment of psychology. Among his publica- tions are : " The Per- ception of Color," in the Proceedings of the American Acad- emy of Arts and Sciences ; "Hegel : His Followers and Critics," in Journal of Speculative Phi- losophy ; "Children's Lies" and "Dermal
GRANVILLE STANLEY HALL.
Sensitiveness to Gradual Pressure Changes," in Ameri- can Journal of Psy- chology ; “A Sand Pile," in Scribner's ; " Laura 'Bridgman," "The Muscular Per- ception of Space," " Reaction, Time and Attention in the Hypnotic State," "Studies of Rhythm," in Mind ; "Contents of Children's Minds," "Moral and Religious Training of Children," and "The Education of the Will;" "Philosophy in the United States ;" "New Departure in Education." More extended publi- cations in book form are : " Aspects of German Culture," "Methods of Teaching History," "How to Teach Read- ing, and What to Read in Schools." Dr. Hall married in Berlin, in 1880, Cornelia, daughter of James and Julia Fisher. Mrs. Hall died in 1890, leaving one son.
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
S SAMUEL DALTON, adjutant-general of the State of Massachusetts, is a veteran soldier who entered the service at a time when men were most needed by the country, and who has steadily advanced to a fore- most place in the military life of the Commonwealth. He has always been interested in military matters, and was identified with the troops of the State before, dur- ing, and since the War of the Rebellion. He brought to the office he now holds, a knowledge and an expe- rience which have been of great benefit to the military or- ganization of Massa- chusetts, and which have given him a reputation second to none among the efficient adjutant- generals of the coun- try. He was born at Salem, Essex County, June 25, 1840, his parents being Joseph A. and Mary Dalton. His father served during the Civil War as lieutenant-colonel of the Forty-ninth Massachusetts Infan- try Volunteers, while his brother, J. Frank Dalton, served in the navy, and was subsequently com- mander of the Sec- ond Corps of Cadets of Salem. General Dalton's early edu- cation was received at the public schools of Salem, where he also attended the classical and high schools, from which he graduated in 1856. He then entered the establishment of his father, gaining an acquaintance with the leather busi- ness. He subsequently came to Boston as clerk in the house of Gore Brothers, and was afterwards engaged as salesman by E. B. Hull & Co. At a very early age he had a special interest in military work, and in 1858 enlisted in the Salem Cadets. He was a member of this organiza-
SAMUEL DALTON.
tion at the outbreak of the war. In 1861 he enlisted in the Fourteenth Massachusetts Volunteers (afterwards known as the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery), and was soon appointed sergeant. Feb. 15, 1862, he was commissioned second lieutenant, and on June 7 of the same year was promoted to a first lieutenancy, in which grade he was mustered out of the United States service, after a full term of three years. He then resumed business in Boston, under the firm name of Nichols & Dalton. April 6, 1866, he re-enlisted in the Salem Cadets as captain of his old company. In May, 1874, he was elected major of the corps, and in March, 1877, lieutenant- colonel. In 1881 Governor Long ap- pointed him in- spector of ordnance, with the rank of colonel, and in Jan- uary, 1883, he was appointed to his present position, with rank as briga- X dier-general, by Goveror Butler. Governor Robin- son advanced him to the rank of major- general. In addi- tion to his responsi- ble position of adjutant-general, which he has filled for ten years with such credit, he is also inspector-general, quartermaster-general, and pay- master-general. General Dalton was married in Salem, March 9, 1863, to Hannah F., daughter of W. F. and Abigail Nichols, of Salem. His family consists of a daughter and a son, Edith B. and R. Osborn Dalton. Under his direction the State militia has steadily increased in numbers and efficiency, and is now com- posed of two brigades and of two corps of cadets, unattached.
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MASSACHUSETTS OF TO-DAY.
B RIGADIER-GENERAL BENJAMIN F. BRIDGES, commanding the First Brigade, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, was born in Deerfield, Mass., April 30, 1836. He comes of a family noted for its mental and physical vigor. His boyhood years were passed in working on his father's farm and in attending school in the winter. His military career began at the age of fifteen, when he enlisted in the Tenth Massachusetts Infantry, in which he served until 1857. In November, 1871, Company H, Second Regiment Infantry, Massachu- setts Volunteer Mil- itia, was organized : at South Deerfield, and Mr. Bridges re- ceived a commission as first lieutenant. March 15, 1875, he was elected captain ; Aug. 3, 1876, pro- moted major ; Jan. 25, 1879, elected lieutenant-colonel ; in the following Aug- ust, elected colonel, and Jan. 5, 1889, elected brigadier- general, command- ing the First Brigade. General Bridges is a thorough disciplina- rian, but popular alike with officers and men. He has done much to increase the efficiency and im- prove the soldierly qualities of the bri- gade. He had suc- ceeded in raising the Second Regiment from a six- company to a twelve-company regiment, and under his administration the organization steadily improved, until it took a prominent position among the best regiments in the State service. The same ability has character- ized his command of the brigade. In the military ser- vice, to which he has given so much time and in which he has had so long an experience, he is an indefatigable worker. In company with General Dalton he visited
the Pennsylvania troops when they were encamped at Homestead in 1892, in order that the experience there gained might be utilized for the benefit of the Massachu- setts militia. This visit was followed by important recommendations in General Bridges's annual report. His whole administration has been marked by great progress, each annual encampment showing decided improvement over the preceding one. The general, who is an able tactician, personally conducts the drills of his command in brigade movements. Re- turning to his civil career, it may be said that after leav- ing school, when about twenty years old, he went West, where he remained several years. On his return to Massa- chusetts, he entered mercantile life, asso- ciating himself, in 1868, with B. R. Hamilton in the manufacture of pock- et-books at South Deerfield. As the financial manager of the firm of Hamilton & Bridges, he made the business a suc- cess. On withdraw- ing from that firm, he was the originator and head of the house of James B. Bridges & Co., of South Deerfield, the firm doing now an extensive business in flour and feed and farming imple- ments. With his townspeople, neighbors, and friends, General Bridges is more than popular. He is the nat- ural leader of any public-spirited work in the town which needs to be pushed to the front, and his purse is always open to the wants of the deserving poor. He was married, in 1859, to Hattie R. Eaton. She died many years ago. General Bridges was married to Miss Jennie E. Taylor, Jan. 8, 1866.
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