USA > Massachusetts > Memorial encyclopedia of the state of Massachusetts > Part 28
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George Estes howard
English origin, and there were several immigrants by that name who came to New England before the year 1650.
George Estes Howard was educated in the common schools of Amesbury, Massachusetts, and in Danvers, Massachusetts. His education was com- pleted in Peabody, Massachusetts, after which he learned the machinist's trade. He proved to be adept in this line, and followed that trade all through his active life, retiring about eight years previous to his death. For five years Mr. Howard was the shipping agent for the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company, who were manufacturers of steam pumps, in East Cambridge, Massachusetts. He met with success in that capacity, and there were none of his associates, even the most casual acquaintances, who did not realize the fundamental trustworthiness of his nature. He had a high reputation as a man of honor and uprightness, and all his transactions bore the closest scru- tiny. As a business man he displayed rare foresight and wisdom, and his advice and judgment were oftentimes much sought after. He was a splen- did example of the successful man who succeeds in this life by strict integ- rity and fairness in all his dealings, and his life should be an inspiration to every youth who seeks to improve his position in life, and earn and retain the good will of his fellow-men.
It was not merely in the business world, however, that Mr. Howard was so well known a figure, but in many other aspects of life in general of Wake- field, his adopted community. He was a staunch and ardent member of the Republican party, and something of a power in the political field of the town, but always in the capacity of a private citizen, as he consistently avoided any- thing like public office or political preferment. While he himself had enjoyed a good common school education, he regretted greatly that he had not the ad- vantage of a college training, and endeavored all through his busy life to compensate for his lack by doing much private reading and studying.
Mr. Howard, as well as the members of his family, was a devout mem- ber of the Episcopal church, and an attendant at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Wakefield, where for a number of years he was senior warden. Mr. and Mrs. Howard were very active in the affairs of their parish, and he liberally supported the work of the church and its charities. He was a man of great force of character and a very winning personality, and was a friend to all humanity. He always had a broad and tolerant outlook upon life, and entered with sympathy into the feelings and beliefs of others, and with a heart that quickly responded to every appeal. The same feeling of sympathy with others made him delight in the intercourse with his fellow-men, and he was ever ready to enter into the informal social gatherings of his many friends. He was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Pil- grim Fathers.
During the year 1866 George Estes Howard was united in marriage with Sarah Elizabeth Peavey, who was born in Great Falls, New Hampshire, now known as Somersworth, and a daughter of Sylvester and Elizabeth (Bean)
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Peavey. Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Peavey were the parents of five children, all of whom are now living with the exception of one. The surviving chil- dren are: Sarah Elizabeth, now the widow of George Estes Howard; James Farrington Peavey, George Sylvester Peavey and Simon Filmore Peavey. Mrs. Howard's mother married ( second) Jeremiah Bean, whose name, although the same as Mrs. Peavey's maiden name, did not in that instance mean relation- ship. Mr. and Mrs. Howard became the parents of one child, a daughter, Maude Vesta, who is now head bookkeeper at the Municipal Light Plant, in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Howard has continued to reside in Wakefield, at No. 9 Summer street, and is a con- stant attendant of the Episcopal church there. The home life of Mr. How- ard was an exceptionally happy one, and his keenest pleasure was derived at his own fireside. In the intimate intercourse of his family life, Mr. Howard proved himself a man of the highest character by that most difficult test of uniform kindness and consideration, and was an affectionate husband and a devoted father.
Mr. Howard's mind was well-disciplined and evenly-balanced, his judge- ment was practical in the highest degree, and his ability as a business man was displayed in his activities. His business career is a splendid example of his wonderful qualities of mind and temperament, and his never-tiring energy and enterprise present a character which has always been greatly admired and which is an example of those lives which England and New England have furnished to the world.
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George Edwin Kimball
George Comin Kimball
T 'HE late George Edwin Kimball was a most worthy representa- tive of his race. His equipment for the battle of life con- sisted of a rugged physique, inherited from generations of right-living ancestors, and a mind of splendid caliber. He was one of those men who made the most of his opportunities, and by close attention to the details of his work, and by thrift and good business judgment in the investment of his savings, he accumulated a competence. He was quick to observe, being the possessor of a retentive memory, and was withal eager and ambitious to achieve suc- cess in his chosen field of work. He applied himself with energy, consid- ering always the welfare of his employer ahead of his own interests, and reaped the reward that generally follows honest, intelligent-directed industry. New England enterprise is proverbial, and justly so, for perhaps no other sec- tion of our great country, or indeed of the world, has in proportion to its population produced so many pioneers in the various branches of human in- dustry as has this small region. Peopled generally by men whose strong sense of religion and personal freedom drove them to forsake the securities and comforts of a long established home together with every tie of family affec- tion and patriotism, for the untried wilderness, its people to-day may be con- sidered as worthy successors of their bold ancestors, and it is not surprising that from a beginning so wellnigh desperate has arisen a type of hardy, in- dustrious men. A member of this class was George Edwin Kimball, whose death, which occurred at his home in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 22, 1917, removed a man honored in life and blessed in memory. Cour- teous, friendly and the very soul of uprightness, he had won many warm friends, whom he valued very highly.
The birth of George Edwin Kimball occurred in North Andover, Massa- chusetts, March 14, 1854. He was the eldest son of John Dean and Hannah Parker (Johnson) Kimball. His father, John Dean Kimball, passed away at the ripe old age of seventy-five years, in April, 1897. His birthplace was North Andover, Massachusetts, and his father was Thomas Kimball, a farmer. John Dean Kimball was a blacksmith by trade, and removed to Charlestown, Massachusetts, at an early age. He built the Kimball residence there over fifty years ago, at No. 7 Prescott street. He was an attendant at the First Parish Church, and was devoted to his home. It was the pleasure of those about him rather than his own which he strived and studied to preserve and increase. John Dean Kimball was united in marriage with Hannah Parker Johnson, a daughter of John and Hannah Parker (Harris) Johnson. Mrs. Kimball was
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George edwin Kimball
born January 16, 1827, in North Andover, Massachusetts, and was one of a family of seven children. She is now considered one of the oldest ladies in Charlestown, Massachusetts, where she has continued to reside since the death of her husband and son. Mrs. Kimball's father was a farmer, greatly ad- mired for his industrious and energetic ways. Mr. and Mrs. Dean Kim- ball were the parents of two children, both of whom were sons, namely: George Edwin, in whose memory we are writing, and John Edward, who died at the age of twenty-three years.
George Edwin Kimball obtained his early education in his native town of North Andover, Massachusetts, and at an early age came to Charlestown, Massachusetts, with his parents. When a youth, he entered the employ of the "Boston Post," one of the leading newspapers of that city, at the time that the paper was just in the making, and for nearly thirty-two years Mr. Kimball was employed with this concern. His work was confined to the busi- ness office, and not only demonstrated his fitness in this capacity but was always quiet and diligent in his work. Work in a newspaper plant is done on time schedules, which are figured down to minutes like the running of rail- road trains, and that Mr. Kimball held the responsible position which he did for so many years is the best evidence of his high character, dependability and expert theoretical and practical knowledge of every detail of his work. By dint of perseverance, untiring energy, and close application, Mr. Kimball, by successful steps, attained the position of cashier for the paper plant in which he first started to make his own livelihood. He continued in this ca- pacity until the year 1907, when he retired from all active business affairs. He carried into his retirement the well wishes of his employers and the em- ployees as well, because of his uniform courtesy and affability. Having risen from the ranks himself, Mr. Kimball had sympathy and a fellow-feeling for the men who worked under his direction. He won their confidence, loyalty, esteem and admiration by the uniformly fair treatment accorded to them. In him were blended the characteristics of a strong man, decision, toleration, firmness, and with all he was most approachable, companionable and lovable. He has gone to his reward, but his splendid spirit and good influence remain, and will continue to remain as long as life lasts. For a period of fifty years Mr. Kimball had been a resident of the Bunker Hill district in Charlestown, Massachusetts, having during that time lived on Prescott street. He proved himself to be a citizen of worth, and was indeed a man of unusual strength of character and business ability.
The funeral services of Mr. Kimball were conducted by the Rev. Charles Talmadge, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, pastor of the Congrega- tional church of which Mr. Kimball was a member.
George Edwin Kimball was a man who exemplified in his daily life the highest principles of morality and virtue. He was warm-hearted and bub- bling over with good nature. Among all his associates, whether in the way
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George Edwin Kimball
of business or the more personal relations of life, he was both loved and ad- mired, and a complete confidence was felt in him that he would fulfill what- ever he engaged to do. With such a personality, he won a wide circle of loyal friends by whom his memory will ever be cherished.
Charles Augustus Chase
I DENTIFIED with nearly every banking institution of Worces- ter, with its historical societies and educational friends, Mr. Chase was a model citizen, devoted to the progress of thought and all that makes for the welfare of mankind. His business activities were many, and his leisure was devoted to histori- cal research and recording his discoveries. Of exceptionally kindly nature, he drew to him all manner of men and occu- pied a high place in the affections and regard of the community.
There were several of this name among the early immigrants who set- tled New England. The ancestor of Charles A. Chase was William Chase, who came in Governor Winthrop's fleet in 1630, accompanied by his wife, Mary, and son William. He was among the members of Apostle John El- iot's Church at Roxbury, where he subscribed to the freeman's oath, May 14, 1634. About 1638 he removed to Yarmouth, Massachusetts, where he died April 13, 1659. His widow died in October following. She suffered great physical affliction for some years, but recovered and bore two children in this country. Descended from this couple was Israel Chase, born March 21, 1770, in Sutton, Massachusetts, son of Caleb and Sarah Chase, and was killed by a falling tree in Leicester, same State, March 2, 1797. He married Ma- tilda Butterworth, and they were the parents of Anthony Chase.
Anthony Chase was born June 16, 1791, in Leicester. Because of the untimely death of his father, the son passed most of his early years in Ux- bridge and Berlin, Massachusetts, working on farms, but he received a fair education in the public schools and Leicester Academy. He settled in Wor- cester in July, 1816, and was associated with his future brother-in-law, John Milton Earle. From 1823 to 1835 he was one of the proprietors of the Worcester "Spy," the leading newspaper of Western Massachusetts. Mr. Chase was a scholarly man of keen intelligence, and did much to advance lit- erary interest in Worcester. In association with another he bore the expense of bringing a lecturer from Edinburgh to encourage study and investigation. He was among the founders and first president of the Worcester Lyceum, in 1829, and prepared with his pen the constitution and by-laws of the Worces- ter Mechanics' Association, in 1841. An active friend of schools, he often served as school committeeman, but declined other official stations often ten- dered, with the exception of a term as alderman. He was an elder of the Society of Friends. When the Blackstone canal was completed, he became agent for the Worcester & Providence Boating Company, and was soon made collector of revenue for the canal company. In March, 1831, he was elected
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Charles augustus Chase
treasurer of Worcester county, and continued in that office thirty-four years, until January 1, 1865. In the autumn of 1864 his son was elected to succeed him. In 1832 Anthony Chase became secretary of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company, continuing until his election as president in 1852. He was one of the corporators of the Central Bank, twenty-eight years treas- urer of the Worcester County Agricultural Society, long a director of the Citi- zens' (now National) Bank, and a trustee and vice-president of the Worces- ter County Institution for Savings. He died August 4, 1879.
He married (first) June 2, 1819, Lydia Earle, born March 24, 1798, in Leicester, died May 2, 1852, daughter of Pliny and Patience (Buffum) Earle. He married (second) April 19, 1854, Hannah, daughter of Daniel and Phebe Greene, of East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
Charles Augustus Chase, son of Anthony and Lydia ( Earle) Chase, was born September 9, 1833, in Worcester, where he was long years a worthy suc- cessor of a worthy father, and died June 5, 1911. His birthplace was a house on Salisbury street, on the present site of the armory. The family soon removed to a house on Nobility Hill, on a terrace, on the site of the present Boston Store. The son first attended the Infants' School, which stood on the north end of Sumner street, and later was a student at the Thomas Street Grammar School, from which he was graduated in 1845. He pursued the course at the Classical and English High School, taking a post-graduate course in mathematics. In 1855 he graduated from Harvard College, receiv- ing the degree of Master of Arts in 1858. During his last year at Harvard he did newspaper work on the Boston "Advertised," and for seven years after graduation continued as a reporter on that journal. In 1862 he made a tour of Europe, after which he settled in Worcester. In 1864 he was elected to suc- ceed his honored father as treasurer of the county, and filled that office a pe- riod of eleven years, ending in 1875. He served also as register of deeds, and was soon after chosen secretary of the Worcester Board of Trade. In 1879 he became treasurer and manager of the Worcester Telephone Company, and in the same year began his service with the Worcester County Institution for Savings, the largest savings bank in the State, outside of Boston, being elec- ted treasurer, November 10 of that year, to succeed Charles A. Hamilton. This position he filled until 1904, when he was elected president, to succeed Stephen Salisbury. In 1908 he tendered his resignation, as he desired to re- tire from active business, and this resignation was accepted March 27 of that year. At the same time Mr. Chase was elected vice-president, in which relation he continued until his death. He was many years identified with the national banking institutions of the city. From 1880 to 1889 he was a direc- tor of the Citizens' National Bank; was a director of the Worcester National Bank and the Merchants' and Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company; and was president of the North End Street Railway Company.
From 1866 to 1874 he was a director of the Free Public Library; was treasurer of the Memorial Hospital; vice-president of the Home for Aged
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Charles augustus Chase
Men; secretary of the American Antiquarian Society; secretary and vice- president of the Worcester Lyceum Association; vice-president of the Art So- ciety ; and a member of the School Board. He was president of the Worces- ter Harvard Club, and actively identified with the Worcester Society of An- tiquity, New England Historic-Genealogical Society, Bunker Hill Monument Association and Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Wars. Every move- ment calculated to advance mental, moral or material progress received his cordial endorsement and support. His death was a serious loss to the city and State, and was very widely regretted. He was a deep student of histori- cal and genealogical matters, and much of his writings have been published. In 1879 he was employed by the publishers of a history of Worcester county to prepare the chapters on the history of the city of Worcester. In this work he gave considerable time to research, and his work brought out many hitherto unknown feautres of the city's history. He also contributed the chap- ter on newspapers in a history published in 1889.
Mr. Chase married, April 29, 1863, Mary Theresa Clark, of Boston, who died January 22, 1884. They left two daughters, Mary Alice and Maud Eliza, who survive, the former the wife of Thomas Hovey Gage, Jr., of Wor- cester.
Lars . L. Faustino
Dans Louis Carstein
F EW men, indeed, pass on into the Great Beyond, whose death is so sincerely and so generally mourned as was that of Hans Louis Carstein, and he will live in the hearts and memories of those who knew him as long as life lasts, not only because he was a man in the best and highest sense of the term, but a lovable and forceful gentleman, who drew to him all those privileged to call themselves his friends. His ingenuous, mag- netic nature, his unselfish, irreproachable character, his high ideals of business and social life, so endeared him to all that his passing away in Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 20, 1911, became a personal and direct sorrow. It is not often that a community is blessed with such men as Mr. Carstein, who was always a strong force in the direction of a better life, a higher plane of citizenship, and a firm believer in the upbuilding of our industry. In his long and successful business career his word was ever as good as his bond, and his private life was without a stain or blemish. In his relations with the busy world, Mr. Carstein was highly regarded by all those who had the honor of his acquaintance, and in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was so well known and loved, and in which city he took such a deep and abiding inter- est in all that was for the best interest of that community, his departure created a vacancy that will be difficult to replace. Throughout the length and breadth of our country we find men who have worked their way unaided from the lowest rung of the ladder of success to positions of eminence and power in their communities, and not the fewest of these have been of foreign birth or descent. The United States has no better citizens than those who came to her from the "Fatherland." Honest, industrious and full of civic pride, they have strengthened the best interests of the communities in which they were found. Of those whom the city of Cambridge has had the good fortune to possess, none has presented a more perfect type of the business man and the good citizen than did Hans Louis Carstein, who not only rose above the standard in his line of business, but was also the possessor in a high degree of those excellencies of human nature that always make men worthy of regard among their fellowmen.
The birth of Hans Louis Carstein occurred in Schleswig, Germany, March 17, 1841, the son of Claus P. and Margareta (Detlefsen) Carsten- sen, name changed by three brothers, Theodore, Ferdinand and William. His father was a farmer and landowner, and during the war between Prus- sia and Denmark, in 1848, was in command of a military company, and it was through political differences that he was obliged to leave Germany, in 1850, and seek refuge in the United States. On his way from New York to Califor-
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Dans Louis Carstein
nia, by way of Panama, he was a victim of yellow fever, and died at Panama, in 1851. Ilis property was confiscated and his family lost its usual income. Hans Louis Carstein, under the custom of Germany, received a commercial edu- cation, and then went to sea before the mast, and after fifteen years of sea service, returned to Germany, master of the ship. The Franco-Prussian war having closed, Mr. Carstein brought his mother and sister to the United States to join a brother who had preceded them. They arrived in the city of Boston, during the year 1871, at the time of the great Chicago fire, and Mr. Carstein's first work was that of philanthropy to collect clothing for the relief of the sufferers in that city, making appeals for help on Boston Com- mon, and receiving not only clothing, but provisions and money.
Mr. Carstein joined his brother, Theodore Carstein, in the paint and oil business, on Hanover street, in Boston, and meeting with business reverses, in 1873, during the financial panic of that year, they gave up the business two years later. Upon closing out the paint and oil business, Mr. Carstein joined his brother-in-law, Frank Ganter, who was in the provision business at Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, and became his partner in 1874. About this time Mr. Carstein desired to become engaged in business on his own account, and accordingly bought out the coal business of Benjamin F. Rogers, at North Cambridge, Massachusetts, and from an output of two thousand tons annu- ally he built up the business so that in 1910 the output was over forty thou- sand tons annually. The life of Mr. Carstein was a record of a career in which the distinguishing marks were a devotion to duty and a broadminded affection for his fellow-men. It was a life at once the type and the model of the class of successful business men upon whom the strength of the com- munity is founded.
In his political belief Mr. Carstein was a staunch supporter of the Re- publican party, and was not alone prominent in the business world, as he was perhaps even better known in other departments of the city's life, and was a most conspicuous figure in local affairs and in social circles. In all his re- lations with his fellow-citizens, Mr. Carstein exhibited a healthy and wholesome manliness which won instant good feeling and well-wishers who at once loved and admired him. There is nothing that makes so direct an appeal to men as a manly, unfearful outlook upon life, a tongue not afraid to speak out its beliefs, and yet shrinks from hurting unnecessarily. These were some of the qualities which marked Mr. Carstein in his dealings with men, and which accounted for his wide popularity. He was a member of the Com- mon Council of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1899, and alderman for six consecutive years, from 1890 to 1896, and in 1896 he refused further nomi- nation on account of ill-health. As a member of the Board of Aldermen, he was a member of the finance committee, and the highway committee, of all special committees, and chairman of the investigating committee. In the board, Mr. Carstein advocated the extension of the Boston Subway to Cambridge, being the first member to open the subject on committees, and
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for three years he was chairman of the committee appointed to act on behalf of the city government, and before he left the board the matter was practi- cally settled and the Subway assured. In this connection he invited fifty of the most prominent citizens of Cambridge to meet at the City Hall and con- fer with him and Mayor Augustine Daly, and after several meetings it was unanimously voted that the Subway system was far superior to the elevated system for securing effective and reasonable rapid transit from Boston to Harvard Square, in Cambridge. Mr. Carstein was made a delegate from the Eighth Massachusetts District to the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1904, as an acknowledgment of his work in the interests of the party in Cambridge. The feeling which all held for this gentleman, with- out respect to party or creed, amounted to affection and certainly a man can do nothing more worthy than to win the esteem of a community.
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