Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 102

Author: Herndon, Richard; Bacon, Edwin M. (Edwin Monroe), 1844-1916
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Boston : New England Magazine
Number of Pages: 1036

USA > Massachusetts > Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts > Part 102

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JOSEPH GARLAND.

Gloucester the following May, and established himself as a physician and surgeon, and from that time to the present has been continuously in prac- tice there. His business has been large, his ob- stetric practice especially large and overtaxing ; but now he has been obliged to withdraw almost wholly from practice. He is the oldest practi- tioner upon Cape Ann. He has been a very busy man, and has met with much success in his profes- sional work. His habits of life have been scrupu- lously exact. He is a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and was in 1879 president of the Essex South District Medical Society. He has written something for medical publication. Dr.

Garland has also served his city in various sta- tions. He was elected to the Board of School Committee in 1851, and has been repeatedly re- elected since. He was secretary of the board for several years during the remodelling of the school system, and his interest in the elevation of schools and the general diffusion of knowledge has been unflagging. In December, 1879, he was elected mayor of the city, and in 1880 re- elected without opposition for a second term, at the end of which service he declined further to act politically as a public servant. In politics he has always been a Republican, and, though not prominent as a leader, has been a firm adherent to the principles of that party, and active in ad- vancing them so far as professional duties would permit. He became most interested in political matters during the " greenback craze " in Massa- chusetts,-fostered by General B. F. Butler - be- cause of the retrenchment cry that painfully af- fected the schools in which he was concerned as a member of the School Board; and, though in the height of his practice, he was constrained to yield, against his inclinations, the use of his name as a candidate for the mayoralty, thereby defeat- ing the Greenback party. Dr. Garland was mar- ried first in October, 1849, to Miss Caroline Au- gusta Goodhue, of Amesbury, and had three sons by that marriage. The eldest, Dr. Joseph Ever- ett, a graduate of Harvard College and Medical School, is now established in successful practice in Gloucester, and largely interested in the cause of education ; Ellsley Stearns, the second son, died in May, 1861 ; and Otis Ward died in his twenty- first year, a prominent member of the junior class of Bowdoin College. His wife, Caroline Augusta, died April 12, 1868. He married May 3, 1870, his second and present wife, Miss Susan Dearborn Knowlton, of Manchester, N. H., and by this mar- riage has four children, two daughters and two sons : Edith Augusta, Ethel Susan, Alric, and Roy Garland. The youngest son, Roy, enters Harvard University, at its next commencement. Dr. Gar- land has lived to see the town of six or seven thousand inhabitants grow to the dimensions of a city of more than twenty-six thousand people, with increase of business commensurate with the growth of population ; and still his labors are not ended.

GILSON, FRANKLIN HOWARD, of Boston, music and book-printer and book-binder, was born in Cam-

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bridge, Dec. 21, 1854, son of Henry Yend and Mary Spofford ( Bailey) Gilson. He is a descend- ant of Joseph Gilson, one of the original proprie- tors of Groton. He was educated in the public schools of Somerville. He left the High School at seventeen years of age to learn music-printing, becoming apprenticed to Andrew B. Kidder, then the leading music-printer in Boston. In 1877 he went into the book-printing office of Rand, Avery, & Co., to obtain a wider knowledge of the general printing business. This acquired, in 1878 he started into business on his own account, with a fellow-workman as a partner, each putting in five

F. H. GILSON.

hundred dollars, with which capital a small music type-setting plant was purchased. Within the first year the partner withdrew, taking for his interest Mr. Gilson's note: and the latter de- veloped the business alone. The field for music type-setting was limited, and the competition sharp; and during the second year Mr. Gilson and five employees were sufficient to care for all the work that came to the modest establishment. But, as a result of careful attention to every detail and persistency, the business advanced; and at the end of five years it had doubled. From 1884 to 1888 some publishing was done, including several school music books and a periodical, the School

Music Journal, which Mr. Gilson also edited. Then, finding that his publishing created some feeling among his competitors, who were also his customers for printing, he sold his catalogue to Oliver Ditson & Co., and again confined his work to printing alone. In 1888 a fire near by destroyed a large part of his plant, whereupon he purchased that of C. M. Gay, his strongest competitor ; and, when his plant was reconstructed, the two were brought together under one roof. In 1889, secur- ing a large contract for press-work and binding, he bought out the establishment of Carter & Wes- ton, printers and book-binders, including nine large power presses and a large amount of book- binding machinery. With these additions he was enabled to handle anything in the line of printing or binding. In 1891 he added music engraving and lithographing. making five distinct depart- ments in the establishment,- music type-setting, printing from electrotype plates, music engrav- ing, lithographing, and book-binding departments. From five employees in 1879 the regular force has increased to one hundred and thirty to-day. In 1891 the business was incorporated under the name of the F. H. Gilson Company, with Mr. Gil- son as president and manager. Mr. Gilson is a member of the New England Lithographers' Asso- ciation, of the Master Printers' Club of Boston, of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, of the Metaphysical Club, the Home Market Club, and the Wellesley Club of Wellesley (a director of the latter). In religious faith he is a Unitarian, mem- ber of the standing committee of the Unitarian so- ciety of Wellesley Hills, where he resides ; and in politics, a Republican. He has been much inter- ested and active in town improvements. His fa- vorite relaxation from business is in the study of nature, particularly botany. He was married Sept. 23. 1874, to Miss Emily Isabel Lowry, of Nashville, Tenn. They have five children : Beatrice Azalea, Claude Ulmus, Isabel Clethra, Alden Pinus, and Anna Rhodora Gilson.

GLASIER, ALFRED ADOLPHUS, of Boston, con- cerned in electric street railway and municipal lighting companies, was born in Boston, Decem- ber 24, 1857, son of Henry Swanton and Anne (Smith) Glasier. His father was a native of Bath. Me., and his grandfather, Joseph Glasier, and great-grandfather, were also born in Maine. The latter's parents came from England. He was edu-

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cated in the public schools of Boston. He began business life at the age of fifteen, in July, 1873, in the Boston office of the president of the Atchi- son, Topeka, & Santa Fé Railroad, and was con- nected with that company for seventeen years, some time as secretary to the late Thomas Nicker- son, president, and during the latter part of his service as its transfer agent. Resigning this posi- tion, he became connected with the Thomson- Houston Electric Company, and devoted himself chiefly to the development of electric street rail- way and illuminating properties. After four years' association with the Thomson-Houston company he withdrew, in order to give his attention more closely to various companies organized by himself. Hle first organized a company to purchase the old horse-car line in Brockton, his object being to con- vert it into an electric railway and to demonstrate the feasibility of successfully building. operating, and profitably maintaining interurban lines of electric railways. Thereupon electric railways were built connecting Brockton with Whitman, Randolph, Holbrook, and Stoughton, one of the first enterprises of its kind undertaken. He then

ALFRED A. GLASIER.

conceived the plan of connecting the cities of Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill with an electric railway. Accordingly, the horse-car lines in Law-

rence and Haverhill were purchased; and the in- corporation of the present Lowell, Lawrence, & Haverhill Street Railway Company followed, - a company which now successfully operates sixty miles of track and has a capitalization of $2,850,- 000. Mr. Glasier was also connected with the formation of The Electric Corporation, which had originally a subscribed capital of five millions, and is at present a member of its executive com- mittee. He is now a director in over twenty different companies, principally street railway companies and companies engaged in municipal lighting ; is president of the Edison Illuminating Company of Brockton ; vice-president of the Maryland Electric Company of Baltimore, Md .; and treasurer of the Industrial Improvement Com- pany of Boston. In politics he is a Democrat, and an active member of the Young Men's Demo- cratic Club of Massachusetts. He is a member of the Country, Algonquin, Athletic, Exchange, New York, Reform of New York, Hull Yacht, Ti- honet, New England, and Megantic clubs, and of the Bostonian Society. Mr. Glasier was married November 24, 1880, to Miss Mary Agnes Wheeler, of Boston. They have five children : Alfred Warren, Adelaide Mary, Charlotte Anne, Arthur Franklin, and Agnes Glasier.

GORDON, JOHN ALEXANDER, M.D., of Quiney, is a native of Prince Edward Island, born in New l'erth, May 30, 1843, son of James and Betsey (Stewart) Gordon. His grandfather, Donald Gor- don, emigrated with wife and four children - Bell, Henry, James, and Donald - from Perthshire, Scotland, to Prince Edward Island in 1803, when James was three years old, and settled as a pio- neer farmer at Brudnell River. His mother, daughter of James and Margaret (Walker) Stew- art, was also of Perthshire, Scotland,-born there, and emigrated to Bruckley Point, Prince Edward Island, in 1819. John Alexander was educated in the public schools and at the Prince of Wales College, Prince Edward Island. Coming to Bos- ton, he entered the Harvard Medical School in 1866. In 1870-71 he was resident house physi- cian (medical interne) at the Boston City Hos- pital. He graduated with his degree of M.D). in March, 1871 ; and the following July, settling in Quincy, entered at once upon an active prac- tice. From 1872 to 1877 he was town physician ; from 1884 to 1889 chairman of the Board of

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

Health of Quincy; and since 1890 he has been a trustee, chairman of the executive board, con- sulting physician, and member of the medical and

JOHN A. GORDON.

surgical staff of the City Hospital of Quincy, in the establishment of which (in 1890) he took active part. He is also medical examiner for Quincy of a number of life insurance companies. He is a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical So- ciety and a member of the American Medical Association. Outside of his professional work Dr. Gordon has for some years been much inter- ested in the development of water-works. He promoted and assisted in establishing the Quincy Water Works in 1883 ; and he has been president of the Quincy Water Company since 1889. He is also president of the Sharon and Marblehead Water Companies. He has served on the Quincy School Board for ten years, from 1884 to 1894. He is a director of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation, and active in its interests. He belongs to the Masonic order, a member of the Rural Lodge and the Royal Arch Chapter ; and his club affilia- tions are with the Granite City and the Quincy yacht clubs, the Megantic Fish and Game Associ- ation, and the Boston City Hospital Club. In politics he has always been a Republican, but has never held political office. He is unmarried.

HALL, BOARDMAN, of Boston, member of the Suffolk bar, is a native of Maine, born in Bangor, April 18, 1856. His father, Colonel Joseph F. Hall, was an early friend of Nathaniel Hawthorne. His mother, Mary M. (Farrow) Hall, was the only daughter of Captain Josiah Farrow, a well-known ship-master of Belfast, Me. Ancestors on both sides served in the War of the Revolution and the War of 1812. He attended the public schools, and fitted for college at Westbrook Seminary and at Dr. Hanson's Classical Institute, Waterville. Subsequently he studied at Colby University and at the Boston University Law School, taking his degree of LL. B. in the latter institution in 18So. He was appointed faculty orator for his class. Previous to attending the law school, Mr. Hall read law with the Hon. William H. Mcclellan, one of Maine's ablest lawyers and formerly attorney-general. He began practice in 1880, and established an office in Boston. In 1887 he was appointed assistant United States attorney for the district of Massachusetts, and discharged the duties of that office with marked ability until his retirement to re-enter private practice in 1890.

BOARDMAN HALL.

He was a member of the Boston School Board from 1885 to ISSS. In 1892 he was nominated on the Democratic State ticket for auditor, and

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polled an exceptional vote, running next to the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor by a long lead over the rest of the ticket. In 1893 he was elected to the Boston Board of Alder- men, and served on many of the important com- mittees, gaining the approval of well-meaning citizens by his course in the conduct of city affairs and the indorsement of the entire press, irrespec- tive of party. In the practice of law Mr. Hall has been eminently successful, ranking high in the profession. As the attorney for the government, he appeared for the United States in many im- portant cases ; and, after leaving the United States attorney's office, he was called in as counsel in many important trials. Of late he has confined his practice largely to acting as counsel for corpo- rations. While he was in the law school, he was correspondent for several Western papers, and from time to time has written as author or editor on legal subjects. Mr. Hall is a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston, of several college societies, and of many social organizations. In 1895 he was chosen president of the Citizens' Municipal Union, and has been interested in questions relating to mu- nicipal growth and development. Mr. Hall was married in 1892 to Miss Mary E. Hamlin, a relative of the late Vice-President Hamlin, a sister of Professor George H. Hamlin of the Maine State College, and a cousin of Professor Charles Hamlin of Harvard University. Mr. and Mrs. Hall reside on Pleasant Street in the Dor- chester District, Boston.

HAMILTON, REV. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, of Boston, pastor of the Eliot Congregational Church, Roxbury District, was born in Chester, Hampden County, November 4. 1835, son of John and Sarah (Burton) Hamilton. He is of Scotch de- scent on the paternal side, and English on the maternal side. Representatives of his branch of the Hamilton family moved from Scotland to Lon- donderry, Ireland, whence John Hamilton, his great-great-grandfather, emigrated in 1734 with his wife and three children to Worcester, Mass. John's grandson, grandfather of Dr. Hamilton, was one of the first settlers in Chester, where he cultivated a large farm and held positions of trust in the town. He was an officer in the Continen- tal army for four years, at one time stationed at the first fort in Roxbury, on the site of which Dr.

Hamilton's house now stands. His son John, Dr. Hamilton's father, after a few years of mer- cantile life, purchased the homestead, and there reared a family of nine children, giving all a good education. Three of them became clergymen, and he himself was prominent in church as well as in town affairs. Dr. Hamilton was educated in the common schools of his native town, at Wil- liston Seminary, Easthampton, and at Amherst College, graduating in 1861. While a student, he taught school for five terms. The next three years after graduation from college he studied at Andover Theological Seminary, graduating there- from in 1864. Subsequently he spent one year in travel and study abroad. His first settlement was in North Andover, being ordained and in- stalled pastor of the Evangelical Congregational Church June 29, 1865. He continued in that office until September, 1871, when he was called to the Eliot Congregational Church of Roxbury, Boston, his present charge. His ministry here of nearly twenty-four years has covered a larger period than that of any other Congregational pas- tor, with one exception, now serving in the city.

B. F. HAMILTON.

He was president of the Evangelical Alliance of Boston and vicinity in 1893, and is now scribe of the Massachusetts Convention of Congregational

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Ministers. He is also an officer in five of the benevolent societies of the Congregational denom- ination. During the Civil War he served as field agent of the Christian Commission, and as acting post chaplain at Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., in 1863. While residing in North Andover, he was a member of the School Committee for five years. 1867-71. He was chosen to preach the " Elec- tion Sermon " before the executive and legislative departments of the State government on January 3, 1877, which sermon on "God in Government," together with others entitled " A Century of Na- tional Life," "Christian Motherhood," and on other topics, has been published in book form. The honorary degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Amherst College in 1886. He is a mem- ber of the Boston Congregational Club, of the Pilgrim Association, and of the Suffolk South Ministerial Association. In politics he is a Re- publican. Dr. Hamilton was married June 21, 1876, to Miss Angenette F. Tinkham, of Boston. Their children are: Florence B., Franklin T., and Burton E. Hamilton.

HARRIMAN, JAMES LANG, M.D., of Hudson, is a native of Vermont, born in the town of Peacham, May 11, 1833, son of Moses and Mar- garet (Lang) Harriman. He was educated in the common schools, and at the well-known acad- emies, the Kimball Union of Meriden, N.H., and the Phillips (Exeter). His medical studies were begun in Woodstock, Vt., and at Albany, N. Y., and were completed at the Bowdoin Medical Col- lege, where he was graduated in 1857. He first practised in Littleton, N.H., establishing himself in that town immediately after his graduation, and continued there till 1862, when he joined the army in the Civil War, becoming assistant sur- geon of the Thirteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers. He remained in the service through 1862-63. After the war he settled in Hudson, and has practised there steadily from 1865 to the present time. He has always taken an active part in town affairs, and in both Littleton and Hudson has served on the School Board, in the former for four years, in the latter for twenty- seven years, and still a member. He has been chairman of the board for a long period. In 1870 he represented his town in the General Court. In politics he is a Democrat. He is a member of the Hudson Board of Trade. He is

prominent in the Masonic order, being a member of Doric Lodge. Houghton Royal Arch Chapter, and Trinity Commandery. Knights Templar, of

J. L. HARRIMAN.

which latter he was commander three years ; and he has been connected with the Grand Army of the Republic from its inception. Dr. Harriman was married first. November 19, 1859, to Miss Mary E. Cushman, of Dalton, N.H. She died September 12, 1890. He married second, Janu- ary 30, 1893, Mrs. Emma P. (Mentzer) Morse.

HARRIS, FRANCIS AUGUSTINE, M.D., of Bos- ton, was born in Ashland, March 5, 1845, son of Dr. Jonas C. and Maria ( Ingalls) Harris. He was educated in the public schools of West Cam- bridge (now Arlington), at the Boston Latin School, where he fitted for college, and at Harvard, graduating in the class of 1866, having as class- mates Moorfield Storey, now a leading member of the Suffolk bar ; Dr. Charles Brigham, of San Francisco, who distinguished himself in the Franco- Prussian War: William Blaikie, the athlete ; and Henry Rolfe, head of the Masonic order of the State of Nevada. For the first three years after his graduation, 1867-68-69, he was master in the Boston Latin School. Then he entered the Har-

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vard Medical School, and graduated there in 1872, meanwhile having spent a year in the Massachu- setts General Hospital as surgical interne. After

FRANCIS A. HARRIS.

three months' practice he went abroad, and spent a year in the study of medicine and surgery at the University of Vienna. Upon his return he re- sumed practice in Boston, and has continued here since, with the exception of occasional visits to Europe. He has been medical examiner for Suf- folk County since the creation of the office in 1877. From 1882 to 1890 he was professor of surgery in the Boston Dental College, and from 1880 to 1891 demonstrator of medico-legal exami- nations in the Harvard Medical School. His ser- vices as medico-legal expert have been required in very many cases, notably the Marston murder trial at Denver, the trial of the Malley boys at New Haven, and the trial of Trefethen for the murder of Miss Davis, and the Barrett trial, both in Middlesex. He is a member of the Massachu- setts Medical Society ; has been a member of the Papyrus (president in 1881), of the St. Botolph, Algonquin, Athletic, Tavern, University, Boston, and Thursday Medical clubs ; and is now of the Papyrus, the St. Botolph, and the University only. Dr. Harris has written a number of notable medi- cal reports and been a frequent contributor to the

medical and general press; and he is the author of several successful plays, among them " Chums " and " My Son," the latter affording the late Will- iam Warren one of his most famous parts, that of " Herr Weigel," and having a brilliant run at the Boston Museum. Dr. Harris was first married October 15, 1874, to Miss Alice Gage, of Mobile, Ala. He married second, June 20, 1890, Miss Helen Leonard, of Boston.

HARTWELL, BENJAMIN H., M.D., of Ayer, was born in the town of Acton, Middlesex County, February 27, 1845, son of Benjamin F. and Emma (Whitman) Hartwell. His education was obtained in the public schools and at the Lawrence Acad- emy, Groton; and he studied for his profes- sion at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadel- phia, where he was graduated in 1868. Settling in Ayer, he has been in active practice there from that time. From 1871 to 1877 he was coroner, and has been one of the medical examiners of Middlesex County since the latter date. He was for three years in the medical department of the

BENJ. H. HARTWELL.

Massachusetts militia, on the staff of Colonel J. W. Kimball, Tenth Regiment. Since 1875 he has served as United States pension examiner.

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, vice-president of the Massachusetts Med- ico-Legal Society, and member of the Middle- sex Club. Dr. Hartwell is also connected with banking interests, being a director of the First National Bank of Ayer and president of the North Middlesex Savings Bank. He represented his district in the Massachusetts Legislature of 1888, serving during his term on the committee on finance and expenditures. He has always taken an active interest in all matters affecting his town ; is now chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ayer Public Library, and has served many years as chairman of the School Board, on the Board of Health, and in other offices. In politics he is a Republican. He is one of the trustees of Law- renee Academy, Groton. Dr. Hartwell was mar- ried September 10, 1879, to Helen E., daughter of Major E. S. Clarke, of the Twenty-sixth Massachu- setts Regiment, killed at Winchester, Va., in 1864.

HASBROOK, COLONEL CHARLES ELECTUS, of Boston, editor and manager of the Traveler, is a native of Illinois, born in Galesburg, June 15, 1847, son of Edward D. and Harriet Jane (Ellis) Hasbrook. His father is a native of Putnam County, New York, and his mother of Kentucky. He received his early education in the schools of his native town ; and this was supplemented by a course at Lombard University, Galesburg, from which he received the regular degree upon graduation and the addition of A.M. shortly after. Inclining toward the law, he took up that study at the School of Chicago University, receiv- ing his degree of LL.B. in 1871. He was ad- mitted to the bar almost immediately, and began to practise. But, as in the case of hundreds of others, the great Chicago fire made a complete change in his plans; and he was compelled to leave the legal path he had marked out for himself. His impulses turning to journalism, he entered that profession ; and the ease with which his mind turned into this new channel showed that the jour- nalistic instinet was present from the first. He began as a reporter on the Chicago Inter-Ocean in 1871, and soon alter joined the staff of the Times, where he had a few years of valuable experience under the direction of Wilbur F. Story. In 1874 he became city editor of the Kansas City Times, his first opportunity to prove his own mettle ; and his success was such that in four years' time he

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Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 102

Author: Herndon, Richard; Bacon, Edwin M. (Edwin Monroe), 1844-1916 Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Boston : New England Magazine Number of Pages: 1036

Author: Herndon, Richard; Bacon, Edwin M. (Edwin Monroe), 1844-1916
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Boston : New England Magazine
Number of Pages: 1036