Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 107

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 107

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PENNOCK, GEORGE BARNES, of Boston, presi- dent of the l'ennock Electric Company, is a native of New Jersey, born in Bordentown, Octo- ber 2, 1851, son of William Ambrose and Harriet (Barnes) Pennock. The Pennock family claim relationship to William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, though, in some mysterious way, the letters " ock " were added in the years passing the death of Penn. Joseph Pennock, grandfather of George B., was a wealthy Quaker, of Chester Valley, Penna. William A., his son, and father of George B., was educated in Quaker schools. He was a bright man, and made a hit as an actor, playing with Edwin Forrest and Charlotte Cush- man, attracting considerable praise from the latter. From his mother's side Mr. Pennock in- herits the determination of the Scotch and the quick wit and alertness of the Irish. He at- tended school between the years 1855 and 1863,

and was tutored by Mrs. Arnel, a friend of Joseph Bonaparte and of Prince Murat of France, the latter gentleman living at one time at Bordentown. At the age of thirteen he entered the employ at Bordentown of the Camden & Amboy Railway and American Telegraph Company, as messenger boy. He made such rapid progress that within a year he had mastered the art of reading tele- graph signals by sound, and soon became an expert telegrapher, with a knowledge of all that was known in those days pertaining to electricity. In 1869 he was appointed manager of the Borden- town office, and held this position until 1871.

GEO. B. PENNOCK.

when he resigned and went to Pottsville, Penna., where he received " press " for the Miner's Jour- nal of that city. While working this " circuit," he accomplished the remarkable feat of receiving fifteen thousand words of President Grant's mes- sage with but one "break." During 1872 he was manager of a large branch office of the Franklin and Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Companies in Philadelphia. The next year he accepted the position of manager of the Lynchburg (Va.) office of the old Southern and Atlantic Company, and subsequently went to Charleston. S.C., for the same company. In April, 1876, he was appointed manager of the consolidated telegraph offices at

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the Centennial Exposition buildings in Philadel- phia, but three months later, in July, resigned, and returned to the service of the Western Union Telegraph Company, by which he had earlier been employed. Later he took service on the French cable at Duxbury, Mass., and remained there until 1880. Then he joined the night force of the New York office of the Western Union. Soon after, however, he was selected as one of the picked men for a force organized for the Philadel- phia service of the American Union and Western Union Companies, and later in the season was one of the carefully selected squad of tele- graphers assigned to accompany the wounded President Garfield to Elberon. After the climax of the assassination in the death of the President, Mr. Pennock went to Cleveland, and thence to Washington, still in the Western Union service. In the latter city he was foremost among the or- ganizers of a local association of the Brotherhood of Telegraphers, and, being one of the candidates for the delegation to the national convention of the Brotherhood, was discharged from the service of the company. Thereupon he moved to Phila- delphia, where he at once found employment with the American Rapid Telegraph Company. He was immediately made chief operator, and then promoted to circuit manager, with headquarters at Upper Darley, Penna. While holding the latter position, he put the company's lines in such con- dition that its " oil circuits " between New York and the oil centres were constantly worked via Darley and Philadelphia without "repeaters." They were at the same time the fastest circuits known. For this valuable service he was pro- moted to the superintendency of the Philadelphia office of the company. He was in the latter posi- tion when the great telegraphers' strike occurred ; and, while meeting at every point the tremendous demands made upon the limited facilities of the Rapid Company, he was most active and influen- tial in the interests of the men. When the Rapid was consolidated with the Bankers' and Mer- chants' Company, he was relieved, and was almost immediately engaged by the Eastern Union, a new corporation, at an annual salary of five thousand dollars. Upon the failure of that enterprise he again joined the New York Western Union night force, and in addition worked the special wires of the Chicago News and the Detroit Free Press. On this circuit he did the fastest sending on rec- ord. At about this time Mr. Pennock began the

study of the problem of underground telegraphy, and shortly after he appeared in the field as an inventor. In 1888 he organized the Pennock Battery Electric Light Company, and became its general manager. Subsequently this was suc- ceeded by the present Pennock Electric Company, with Mr. Pennock as president and general mana- ger. The list of Mr. Pennock's electric inven- tions includes a perfected primary battery sys- tem, an automatic current feeder, a voltage distributer, a high and low potential distributer, a step-up and step-down transvolt distributer, a multiple current distributer, an automatic nega- tive pole step-back, a long-distance electric de- livery, a wireless dynamo and transformer, an underground system for telegraph and telephone wires, an underground system for dangerous currents, and a method of operating street-cars so that the passengers carried on one car will pay for the electric maintenance of every car on the road. Mr. Pennock has also had much experi- ence as a journalist, and has written some nota- ble ballads. He is a member of the Tele- graphers' Protective Union, of the Telegraphers' Building Loan Company, the Telegraphers' In- surance Company, the Gold and Stock Insur- ance Company, the American Legion of Honor, and the National Union. In politics he is a Democrat, having cast his first vote for Horace Greeley in 1872, and voted the straight Demo- crat ticket since. Mr. Pennock was married in December, 1880, to Miss Emma Cowperthwaite, grand-daughter of Judge Cowperthwaite, of the Superior Court of New Jersey. They have one child : Laura Augusta Pennock, aged five years.

PERRY, FREDERIC DAVIS, M.D., of Mansfield, is a native of Mansfield, born December 20, 1843, son of Dr. William F. and Emeline B. (Davis) Perry. He is of English origin, related on the paternal side to the ancestral line of Commodore Perry. He is in the sixth generation in descent from Josiah Perry. His great-great-grandfather, Captain Nathaniel Perry, was captain of a com- pany in Colonel Winslow's regiment, receiving his commission, signed by Governor Shirley, June 6, 1754. He served in Nova Scotia, was present at the taking of Cumberland, and died at Nova Scotia in 1756. Dr. Perry's great-grandfather, James Perry, was born in Easton in 1745, where he be- came a man of wealth and influence, owner of the

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iron foundry there, active in the Revolution, at the head of his own company in the affair at Lex- ington and Concord, afterward a captain in Wash-

F. D. PERRY.

ington's army, in which he served three years, and subsequently made cannon and balls at his East- ern works. James Perry's fourth son, James, Dr. Perry's grandfather, born in 1767, became a physi- cian of note, especially in the treatment of ty- phus fevers. Dr. Perry is the third physician of the family. His mother was daughter of Captain Samuel C. Davis, of Newmarket, N.H., a man highly esteemed and prominent in his day in that town. His early education was attained in the common school of Mansfield and at private schools at Taunton. After a course in the High School at Foxborough he entered Phillips (An- dover) Academy, where he prepared for college. He then took a year's course at the Philadelphia Dental College and a three years' course at the Harvard Medical School, graduating from the former in March. 1865, and from the latter in June, 1870. He began the practice of his profes- sion with his father, which association continued till the latter's death October 17, 1873. Then he succeeded to the business, which he has since conducted alone. His practice is general, and has been very successful. He has been a mem-

ber of the Mansfield Board of Health for eight years, three years of that period chairman of the board. He is a member of the Masonic frater- nity, rank of a Knight Templar, and of the order of Odd Fellows. In polities Dr. Perry has always been a stout Republican. He was married May 25. ISSo, to Miss Lizzie T. Oliver, of New York City. They have two children : Ada and William Frederic Perry, aged respectively thirteen and eleven years.

PERRY, HERBERT BRAINERD, M.D., of Am- herst, is a native of Maine, born in Knightsville. September 5, 1865, son of Eben Nutter and Harriet Miller (Libby) Perry. His father's family originated from Allen Peirrie, a Frenchman, who settled in Shapleigh, York County, Me., in 1750. His son, Stephen Peare, married Martha Bucham. daughter of a son of Lord Bucham of England ; and his son, James R. Peary, was father of Eben N., the father of Dr. Perry. On the maternal side he is a direct descendant of John Libby, who came to America from Devonshire, England, in 1640, and settled on the coast of Maine at what

HERBERT B. PERRY.

is known as Libby's Neck, a part of Scarbor- ough, the line running : Matthew," Andrew," An- drew, " William,5 William," Harriet.7 Dr. Perry was

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educated in the Cape Elizabeth High School, at the Portland Business College, and Varney's Clas- sical School, and studied medicine at the Portland School for Medical Instruction and at the Bow- doin Medical College, graduating from the latter in 1890. He began the practice of his profession at Amherst in the autumn following his gradua- tion. In February 21, 1895, he was appointed a medical examiner for Hampshire County. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical So- ciety, of which he was a censor in 1893, and is in 1895 a councillor, a member of the East Hamp- den Medical Society, of the Massachusetts Medi- co-Legal Society, and of the Amherst Club. He is a Freemason, belonging to the Pacific Lodge, the Northampton Royal Arch Chapter, and the Northampton Commandery. Dr. Perry was mar- ried October 3, 1894. to Miss Emily A. Hills, of Amherst. They have no children.

POPE, ALEXANDER, of Boston, animal painter, was born in Dorchester (now of Boston), March 25, 1849, son of Alexander and Charlotte (Cush-

ALEXANDER POPE.

ing) Pope, and the direct descendant, through nine generations, of John Howland and Elizabeth Tillie. who came over in the " Mayflower." He was

educated in the public schools, graduating at the Dorchester High School. For the first twenty years and more of his active life he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, concerned in the lumber business with his father, after his eighteenth year a partner of the latter, under the firm name of .1. Pope & Son. He began painting in 1880 or 1881, and took up the art as a profession a few years later ; but he displayed artistic talent at a much earlier date in sculptural work and in wood cary- ing. As early as his twenty-first year he had done some notable carving of game, especially pheas- ants and ducks, coloring them to the life. Sub- sequently several examples of this work found their way into private collections, two specimens being ordered by the Czar of Russia, and ulti- mately hung in his dining hall. Mr. Pope's first work in clay, after the execution of a number of study heads, was in portrait busts in 1881 and 1882, one of which - of " Father " Merrill -- is now in Wesleyan Hall in Boston. From modelling he progressed to painting, begin- ning with a number of dog portraits. His first publicly recognized canvas was a painting of game-cocks, which he named " Blood will Tell," purchased by Mr. Allen, of the Astor House, New York. Then followed a number of small can- vases, groups of still life : a portrait of a St. Ber- nard dog for a Portland gentleman, which, when exhibited, attracted much attention from dog fan- ciers, and brought other commissions to the artist : a Gordon setter, painted for John E. Thayer, of Boston; and a pointer for Bayard Thayer. In the autumn of 1886 he painted the large canvas "Calling out the Hounds," Emil Carlsen laying in the background, which depicts a hunting party just about to start out, with the splendid pack of dogs in the foreground. This was shown in sev- eral exhibitions, and at once established Pope's reputation. It now hangs in the Boston Tavern. The next year he painted " Waiting " --- two alert setters listening for the sound of the step of their master - for Mr. Whitney, of Rochester, N.Y., which later became the property of D. S. Ham- mond, of the Plaza Hotel, New York, and was the beginning of a series of interesting canvases,- " In the Pasture," showing the necks and heads of five noted horses owned by Mr. Hammond, a portrait of a full-grown lion, and "Just from Town," displaying two proud peacocks of brilliant plumage, strutting about a country farm and daz- zling a couple of rustic rabbits with their splen-

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dor. These pictures are now displayed in the Plaza Hotel, and are among the sights of the town. In them Pope broadened out into full pict- ure painting, introducing incident and appropriate accessories ; and subsequently he undertook his most serious work up to that time, an historical piece, " The Lion and Glaucus," taking his theme from Bulwer's " Last Days of Pompeii," for which he made a most patient and thorough

study. \ later work. "The Truant," is pro- nounced one of his best works. This shows two English setters, one a golden brown and white, standing in a woodland pool, the other, a black and white, emerging from the bush at the edge of the pool, and gazing steadfastly upon his com- rade, the truant from the chase .- the background composed of alder-bushes flecked with sunlight. Other notable pictures from Mr. Pope's brush in recent years are a fine setter owned by C. E. Cobb, of Newton ; "On Duty." a great St. Ber- nard, with a canteen of spirits strapped to the collar, ploughing through the mountain snow ; the " Polo Pony," life size, owned by George F. Bouve, of Boston, and pronounced by eminent crities the most lifelike piece of animal painting ever shown in Boston ; the " Bengal Tiger," also owned by Mr. Bouve, and now in Plaza Hotel. New York : the " Polo Player," owned by John Shepard. Jr., of Providence. But, unquestionably, his most important work was the " Martyrdom of Saint Euphemia," which was exhibited at the Bos- ton Museum of Fine Arts for several months. Mr. Pope works in his studio by casts and models representing a variety of animals in various poses, and the walls are decorated with sportsman's par- aphernalia, fishing-rods, nets, huntsmen's outfits, hunting baskets, and so on. Of his mastery over beasts an observant critic has said : " Pope shows that he understands their natures. They, dogs especially, follow him as he follows them. Affec- tion also enters largely in his work. Not a mo- tion escapes his attention : the meaning of every motion he interprets and satisfies himself about." Mr. Pope is a member of the St. Botolph and the Athletic clubs. He was married September 16. 1873, to Miss Alice D'W. Downer, daughter of Samuel Downer, of Boston, and great-grand- daughter of Major Thomas Melville.

RAWSON, WARREN WINN, of Arlington, mar- ket gardener and seedsman, was born in Arlington

(then West Cambridge), January 23, 1847, son of Warren and Eleanor E. (Hovey) Rawson. He was educated in the public schools of his native

WARREN W. RAWSON.

town, at Cotting Academy, and at a commercial college in Boston, finishing at the Emerson School of Oratory. Before completing his education, he was at work with his father, who was also a lead- ing market gardener in his day, and received a practical experience in this branch of fine farming and the growing of seeds. In 1873, after five years in partnership with his father, he began business for himself as a market gardener, and ten years later added a seed store in Boston at No. 34 South Market Street. Beginning at the age of twenty-one with no capital, he is now at forty- eight one of the largest tax-payers in his town. He was a pioneer in the introduction of many features in market gardening now in general use. was the first market gardener in Arlington to build extensive greenhouses, first to use steam in them, and first to employ electric light to foster and hasten the growth of vegetables. He is the leading producer of celery in the East, and has introduced several new varieties of seeds, which he exports extensively, as well as selling widely in this country. He has five farms in Arlington, which embrace one hundred acres,

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and are thoroughly equipped for his extensive business. Mr. Rawson is president of the Market Gardeners' Association of Boston, president of the Middlesex Agricultural Society, vice-president of the Boston Marketmen's Club, ex-member of the State Board of Agriculture, and member of the Board of Control of the Massachusetts Experi- mental Station at Amherst, member of the Massa- chusetts Horticultural Society and of the Fruit and Produce Exchange, Boston. Mr. Rawson is prominent also in affairs outside of his business and interests connected with it. He is an earnest Republican, and has served as chairman of the Republican town committee of Arlington. Since 1884 he has been a member of the Arlington School Committee. In 1890 he was appointed by the governor chairman of the Gypsy Moth Commission. He has lectured on agricultural topics before various organizations, and has pub- lished works on celery culture and on " Success in Market Gardening." He is a member of the Home Market Club, of the Middlesex Club, and of the Arlington Boat Club, is connected with the Masonic order and the order of Odd Fellows, and is an associate member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In Arlington he is concerned in nu- merous improvements for the welfare of the place, and is a member of the local Improvement As- sociation, president of the Arlington No-license Committee, and director of a co-operative bank. He was married first on February 28, 1868, to Miss Helen M. Mair, by which union were two children, but one of whom, Mabel, is now living. Mrs. Rawson died in May, 1872. He married second, September 21, 1874, Miss Sarah E. Mair. They have had three children, of whom two are living : Alice and Herbert Rawson.

RICH, FRANK URBANUS, M.D., of Maynard, is a native of Maine, born in the town of Thorndike, July 18, 1857, son of Raymond S. and Eleanor Jane (Grant) Rich. His great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Rich, and the latter's brother, came to this country from England about the year 1750 or 1755, and settled, Benjamin in the small town of Standish, or Gorham, near Portland, Me., and the brother on Cape Cod. His grandfather, Joseph Rich, was born in Standish, or Gorham, in 1780, and later in life moved to Thorndike, a township set off from Lincoln Plantation in Waldo County, where he married Lydia F. Farwell, of Unity, in

the same county, daughter of Henry Farwell, Esq., and half-sister of the Hon. Nathan A. Farwell, late of Rockland, Me., and formerly United States

F. U. RICH.

senator. As a result of this union, twelve children were born, all of whom grew to manhood and womanhood. Of these, the Hon. Raymond S., father of Dr. Rich, was the oldest. He was born in Thorndike in 1809. He was almost a giant physically, standing six feet four inches in his stocking feet; and his usual weight, though not corpulent, was two hundred and eighty pounds. He was a man of liberal education and of more than usual ability, having been a justice of the peace in quorum and trial justice for over forty years. He also represented his district in the General Court, and was a member of the council of both governors Washburn and Cony, of Maine, during the Civil War. He held nearly every office of trust in his native town ; and the latter part of his life was spent in settling estates, looking up titles, and doing various kinds of legal work in which he was called an expert. Frank U. Rich was the seventh of a family of nine children, seven boys and two girls. His early education was obtained in the district schools of his native town, which he attended during the winter months, or when he could be spared from work

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on the farm, until he reached the age of fourteen. Then he entered Freedom Academy, and subse- quently China Academy. At the age of eighteen he became principal of the commercial department and professor of penmanship of Oak Grove Semi- nary at Vassalborough, the only Friends' school in Maine. At about this time he also began the study of medicine, teaching in the day-time and studying evenings, and reciting two or three times a week to a practising physician in North Vassal- borough. Later on he entered the medical de- partment of the University of Vermont at Burling- ton, and graduated there with the degree of M.D. on July 1, 1880, being vice-president of his class. At the end of the same month he began practice as a physician and surgeon at Maynard, Mass., where he has since continued, having by his skill and untiring energy worked up a large and lucra- tive practice, extending into five different towns. He has been a member and chairman of the Board of Health of the town for over ten years. Dr. Rich is a member of Charles A. Welch Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Maynard, of the Walden Royal Arch Chapter at Concord, and of the Massachusetts Consistory, thirty-second degree, of Boston ; a charter member and second noble grand of Maynard Lodge of Odd Fellows; a member of Waltham Encampment, order of Odd Fellows : a charter member of Assabet Council, Royal Arcanum, also the examining physician ; a charter member of Court Maynard, Ancient Order of Forresters, also court physician; member of Magdaline Chapter, order of Eastern Star, and Mizpah Lodge of the Daughters of Rebecca. In politics he is a stanch Republican, but, owing to the pressure of professional business, takes no active part in political work. Dr. Rich was married December 24, 1883, to Miss Minnie B. Newcomb, of Maynard. They have three chil- dren : Ethel B. (born April 21, 1886), Robert Raymond (born January 6, 1891), and Gertrude Rich (born May 5, 1893).

RICHARDSON, CHARLES, of Boston, mer- chant, first president of the National Paint, Oil, and Varnish Association, was born in Glacen- bury, Conn., October 11, 1825 ; died in Boston, April 29, 1895. He was a son of Ruel and Ora (Bird) Richardson. He was of the Richardson family descending from Richard, grandson of Will- iam Belward, Lord of Malpas, in Cheshire, Eng-

land. His boyhood was spent on a farm, and he was at work in a general store when a lad of but fourteen years. His early education was limited to the country school and a single term at the Framingham Academy : but subsequently, through association with men of well-stored minds, observa- tion, and extensive reading, he received an intel- lectual training of no common order. In 1849, when he was twenty-four years old, he came to Boston, and entered the employ of John N. Denni- son & Co., wholesale dealers in dry goods, engag- ing to travel for the house. After several success- ful years in this business he entered the paint and oil trade, taking a position in the store of William C. Hunniman, Jr. ; and from that time to his death he was devoted to its interests. Three years after engaging with Mr. Hunniman he purchased the latter's interest, and started out for himself, under the firm name of Charles Richardson & Co. Be- fore long, under his energetic and skilful conduct. the business had so increased that he was obliged to move to larger quarters, and he took a store on the corner of Milk and Broad Streets. Thence re- moval was made some years later to much more

CHARLES RICHARDSON.

extensive quarters on Oliver Street, and the busi- ness became one of the best established of its line in Boston. Mr. Richardson was widely known in

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the paint and oil trade throughout the country through his zeal in advancing various trade re- forms. He was the originator of the New Eng- land Paint and Oil Club, established in 1884, the pioneer of such clubs, and was its first president ; and he was one of the most active promoters of the National Paint and Varnish Association, or- ganized at Saratoga in ISSS. He was president of the latter for three years, and then, declining to serve for a fourth term, became an active member of the board of control, and served on various committees. He was an earnest advocate of the establishment of a department of trade and com- merce in the national government, and succeeded in enlisting influential support for the plan among business men in various parts of the country. In business affairs his judgment was practical and sure: and his opinion was frequently sought by his associates in the trade, and respected. He had a wide circle of friends, and numbered among his intimate acquaintances such men as Theodore Parker, William Lloyd Garrison, and Wendell Phillips. Upon his death the Paint and Oil ('lub, at a special meeting, voted to place upon its records a tribute to his memory, in which empha- sis was laid upon " his strict attention to business details, aggressiveness in matters of general inter- est, especially in insisting that fairness only could be shown by each member acting honorably." Mr. Richardson married in April, 1846. Sara Stearns. His widow and a son and daughter sur- vive him : Charles F. (member of the firm of Charles Richardson & Co.) and Clara M. Rich- ardson (now Mrs. Stanwood, residing in West Medford).

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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 107

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