Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 108

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

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ROGERS, FRANK ALVIN, M.D., of Chatham, is a native of Maine, born in the town of New- field, October 8, 1855, son of the Rev. John A. Rogers and Julia Ann (Nealey) Rogers. His ancestry is traced back to John Rogers the martyr. The first of the family who came to the New World was the Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, who settled at Ipswich, Mass., in 1636, and died there in 1655. His son, the Rev. John Rogers, MI. D., practised at the same place, and died there in 1684, leaving a son, the Rev. John, who was pas- tor of the First Church of Ipswich until his death in 1745. The next in lineal descent was the Rev. Daniel Rogers, a tutor in Harvard College, who died in 1785 at Exeter, N.H. His son Thomas moved to Ossipee, N.H., where John Rogers,

grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born. He subsequently removed to Newfield, Me., where he died in 1866. His son, the Rev. John, father of Dr. Rogers, was long settled as pastor of the Free Will Baptist Church at West Newfield, and died there in 1866, leaving the son Frank A., and a daughter Addie A., now Mrs. B. F. Lombard, of Portsmouth, N.H. Frank .A. received his early education in the common schools, and afterward attended the Limerick Academy at Limerick, Me., and the Maine Wesleyan Academy and Female College at Kent's Hill, Readfield, Me. Ile studied medicine at the Bowdoin Medical College, and graduated there in June, 1876, and subsequently took post-graduate courses at the Harvard Medical School. He practised for about a year in Bethel, Me. (1876- 77), and then became principal of the Litchfield Academy, Litchfield, Me. The next year, 1878, he went to Atlanta, Ga .. as instructor in physics, Latin, and Greek in the university in that city, and remained there four years. Returning North and resuming the practice of medicine, in 1882 he settled in the town of Brewster. After ten years'

F. A. ROGERS.

successful practice there, he sold out, and removed to Worcester. Nearly a year later, the people of Chatham petitioning him to settle there, he re-

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moved to that town. While in Worcester he was pathologist to the City and Memorial Hospitals. In connection with his professional duties Dr. Rogers has devoted much time to the study of histology, embryology, and bacteriology, with the microscope. He has written numerous articles for magazines devoted to these subjects, some of which, with original drawings, have been sought for republication. Dr. Rogers was admitted to the Massachusetts Medical Society in 1883, and became a fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society of London, England, in 1891. He has also been a member of the American Microscopi- cal Society since 1888. ITe is connected with the Masonic fraternity and the order of Odd Fellows. He has been chairman of the School Board of Brewster from 1884 to 1893. Dr. Rogers was married November 30, 1876, to Miss Lottie A. Bowker, of Phippsburg, Me. Their children are : Amabel, Frank Leston, and AAlice May Rogers.

ROWELL, HENRY VALENTINE, of Boston, New England manager for Remington typewriter manufacturers, is a native of Vermont, born in the town of Hartford, June 2, 1841, son of Christo- pher C. and Mary Augusta ( Hunter) Rowell. His education was begun in the public schools of his native town, and finished at the Meriden Academy. Meriden, N.H. He left home when sixteen years of age, coming to Lowell, where he worked for three years as a clerk ; and from his savings from his small salary he paid his way through the acad- emy, which he entered at the age of nineteen. After spending two years at Meriden, he came again to Massachusetts, and found another place as clerk in a store in Boston. In 1866 he en- tered into partnership with W. A. Holmes in the grocery business, and for some time conducted a store on Causeway Street. opposite the Union Station. Subsequently this partnership was dis- solved, and he continued in the business for some years alone. During this period he became inter- ested in shorthand, and in 1877, in company with W. E. Hickox, began the publication of a maga- zine devoted to its interests, under the name of The American Shorthand Writer. This was suc- cessfully carried on for six years, when it was ab- sorbed in the Canadian Shorthand Writer, then published by Thomas Bengough, of Toronto. Meanwhile Mr. Rowell secured the agency of the Remington typewriter for the State of Maine, and

conducted this business with Mr. Hickox in con- nection with the publication of their magazine. The result of the acquaintance thus formed with

H. V. ROWELL.

the manufacturers - the firm of Wyckoff, Sea- mans, & Benedict - was his engagement in 1883 as New England manager of their business. When he took this position, the business of Wyck- off, Seamans, & Benedict in New England was very small. occupying only a room twelve by twelve feet. Within the last twelve years of Mr. Rowell's management it has grown to such pro- portions that a store one hundred feet deep, with basement proportionately large, is now required for its accommodation ; and a large clerical force is employed. From an output of about half a dozen machines per month from the New England office twelve years ago, there have been put on the market during these twelve years nearly one hundred and sixty thousand machines. Side by side with this development has been that of short- hand writing, and several thousand trained oper- ators are being placed each year by the Reming- ton typewriter firm. Mr. Rowell is a member of the Royal Arcanum. He was married November 29, 1865, to Miss Emma J. Jaquith, of Peter- borough, N.H. They have one child : Neva 11. Rowell.

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

RVAN, JOHN WILLIAM, of Boston, editor of the Saturday Evening Gasette. is a native of Boston, born March 26, 1837. son of James Walker and Elizabeth B. (Ryan) Ryan. He is of Irish de- scent. His paternal grandfather held a responsi- ble position in connection with the coal mines in Castlecomer, County Kilkenney, Ireland, and came to this country in the early twenties, settling near Savannah, Ga .; and his paternal grandmother was of the Walker family. " well-to-do " folk. His maternal grandfather was John Ryan, long a stair-builder and carpenter in Boston, one of four brothers who settled here early in the century.

JOHN W. RYAN.

He died in Boston, 1828. His wife was Bridget Green. Mr. Ryan's father was a popular hotel- keeper in Boston in the early days of Harvey D). Parker and Paran Stevens. He kept the Stack- pole House, which stood on the corner of Milk and Devonshire Streets in its prosperous period, in the forties, before it declined to a second-rate house. His brother was Commander George Parker Ryan, U.S.N., who was lost in the " Huron " off Cape Hatteras in November, 1879. John W. was educated in the Boston public schools. He was a Franklin medal scholar at the old Adams School in Mason Street, with George Brooks (a brother of the late Phillips Brooks), who

was killed in the Civil War, Waldo Merriam, after- ward a colonel, also killed in the Civil War, and James Dickson Wyman, a brother of Colonel Powell T. Wyman, and son of Oliver C. Wyman, at one time manager of the Federal Street The- atre. Young Wyman afterward went on the stage under the name of Dickson. He was a descend- ant of the Powells who were about the earliest theatrical people in Boston. Mr. Ryan began active life as a boy in the wholesale dry-goods house of Blanchard, Converse, & Co., on Pearl Street, on the site of the old Boston Athenaum. But he had more taste for newspaper lite than for business, having been a contributor to the then called literary weeklies in Boston and New York ; and in 1857, when he was twenty years old, he went into the Traveller office. Afterward he was for some time on the Shoe and Leather Reporter. In 1865 he first became attached to the Saturday Evening Gasette, under William W. Clapp, Jr., and Benjamin P. Shillaber (Mrs. Partington). He left in 1870 to start the Hour Glass, but re- turned the following year. In 187t he bought an interest in the Boston Sunday Courier, and was the first president of the Courier Stock Company, the other stockholders being Warren L. Brig- ham, Joseph F. Travers, and John T. Morse, Jr. He remained on the staff of the Courier until ISS4, when he left it to become the editor of the Boston Budget, succeeding William A. Hovey. In 1887, at the urgent request of the late Colonel Henry G. Parker, he returned to the Gazette, and has since remained there, becoming the chief editor in 1894. Mr. Ryan was a member of the Mercantile Library Association in its palmy days, and took great interest in its literary exercises. He was a member of the declamation committee of the association about the year 1859, when Henry C. Barnabee and William E. Sheriden were among those who took part in the entertain- ments. He was a member of the Avon Dramatic Club which produced " Macbeth " for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission in 1862 at the Boston Theatre, then called the Academy of Music. He has served on the Boston School Committee, a member of the old board in 1874, and of the new board from 1876 to 1879. Mr. Ryan was mar- ried October 1, 1873, to Miss Nora Winifred Len- non, daughter of Martin Lennon, a capitalist and retired tanner and contractor, well known in Bos- ton. Their children are : Mary Josephine, Gene- vieve Agnes, and George Benedict Ryan.

MEN OF PROGRESS.

SEARS, WILLIAM BARNAS, of Boston, was born in Hamilton, Madison County, New York, June 11, 1832, son of Barnas Sears, D. D., LL.D., and Elizabeth Griggs (Corey) Sears. His father was born at Sandisfield, Berkshire County, Mass., and was a graduate of Brown University and Newton Theological Seminary; pastor of the First Baptist Church, Hartford, Conn. ; professor in Madison College, Hamilton, N.Y. ; graduate of the German University, Berlin : professor and president of Newton Theological Seminary; secretary of the State Board of Education, successor to Horace Mann : president of Brown University, succeed- ing Dr. Wayland ; appointed by George Peabody. London banker, as agent for the Peabody Edu- cational Fund for the South ; died at Saratoga Springs, July 4, 1880, and buried in the Corey tomb, Walnut Street Cemetery, Brookline. His mother was daughter of Deacon Elijah Corey, of Corey Hill, Brookline. The family removed to Brookline when he was a year old. He received his education at the private school of Ebenezer Woodward, and the classical German school of Dr. Carl Siedhof, in Newton C'entre, finishing under Professor William Russell, President Eben- ezer Dodge, I.D., and President Alvah Hovey, D).D. He was instructor in German, Latin, and mathematics at Pierce Academy, Middleborough. and then entered the store of Gardner Colby on Milk Street, Boston, and served his apprentice- ship three and one-half years, from 1851 10 1854. After a year at Alton, Ill., and at New Orleans he entered the employ of Lyman Sears & Co .. jobbers of boots and shoes, No. 12 Barclay Street, New York. Later on he was with Paton & Co., importers, Park Place, New York ; and for three years prior to the Civil War in the silk house of Bowen, McNamee, & Co., No. 112 Broadway, New Vork. Soon after the opening of the war he was commissioned (June 6. 1861) by Governor Will- iam Sprague, of Rhode Island, first lieutenant in Company F. Second Rhode Island Regiment, Volunteer Infantry, for three years ; and he served to the expiration of the term, making a brilliant and honorable record. His regiment opened the battle of First Bull Run, at Sudley Church, on Sunday, July 21, 1861, at 9 A.M. : and, Captain Levi Tower of his company being one of the first to be killed, the command devolved upon First Lieutenant W. B. Sears. In this engagement the colonel, major, two captains, and one hundred and forty men of the regiment were killed,

wounded, or captured. On the 28th of October, 1861, First Lieutenant Sears was commissioned captain, and thereafter was present with his com- mand at Warwick Court House, Lee's Mills, York- town, Williamsburg. West Point, Slatersville, New Kent Court House, Mechanicsville, Hanover Court House, Savage Station, Seven Pines, Tur- key Bend. Malvern Hill, Second Bull Run, Chan- tilly, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg. Marye's Heights, Salem Church, Gettysburg, South Anna River, and Cold Harbor, June, 1864. He was honorably discharged at Providence, R. I., June 17, 1864, the term of service of the regi-

W. B. SEARS.

ment having expired, and subsequently received from Governors Sprague of Rhode Island, Buck- ingham of Connecticut, and Andrew of Massa- chusetts, written commendation for active ser- vices at the front. He was wounded at First Bull Run, at Seven Pines, and at Hamilton's Crossing, Fredericksburg. Captain Sears was one of the early members of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic, on the 17th of October. 1867. joining l'ost 26 of Roxbury. In 1871 he was elected senior vice- commander. In September, 1874, he was trans- ferred to Post 143 of Brookline, and in 1875. and again in 1876, was elected commander of that post. He served one year on the staff of

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General William Cogswell, and one year on that of Myron P'. Walker, department of Massachu- setts, commander ; and has had the exceptional record of four years' service on the national staff of commander-in-chief of the Grand Army, having been first appointed in 1877 on the staff of Gov- ernor Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin, next, in 1889, on General Rea's staff, in 1892 on that of General A. G. Weissert, of Wisconsin, and in 1893 on that of Captain John G. B. Adams, of Massachusetts. In 1874 he was admitted to membership of the Massachusetts Commandery. military order of the Loyal Legion. He has served in the State militia, a member of Com- pany D), Massachusetts Cavalry, Roxbury Horse Guards, from 1865 to 1872, when he was com- missioned by Governor Claflin captain of Com- pany C, First Regiment Infantry; and on Octo- ber 2, 1867, he was elected a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, Gen- eral Banks at that time commander. He is an honorary member of the Clinch Rifles of Augusta. Ga., having received his certificate of election in August, 1875; and an honorary member of the Mexican War Veterans' Association (elected in 18So). In 1870 he was appointed commissioner of the Commonwealth for disabled soldiers of the war. Captain Sears turned his attention to in- surance matters soon after the war, and began to lay the foundation of his fire insurance agency at No. 45 Kilby Street, the insurance centre of Boston, in September, 1865. He was appointed Boston agent for the Norwich Fire Insurance Company in 1867, and appointment followed as agent for the Roger Williams, the Commerce, the Firemen's Fund and Union Companies of Cali- fornia, the Hoffman, Fairfield, Enterprise, Ger- man American, the North British & Mercantile of London, and the Guardian Assurance Com- pany of London. He has built up a first-class business, and enjoys the confidence alike of under- writers and assured. He was a charter member of the Boston Protective Department (in 1872), a director in 1873, vice-president in 1874, and president 1875. In Brookline he served by ap- pointment of the selectmen, as assistant engi- neer in 1876, and chief engineer in 1877 of the Brookline Fire Department : and, while chief, he reorganized the department on a basis to har- monize with the system of the city of Boston. He is prominent in the Masonic fraternity : member of the Massachusetts Lodge, Free and

Accepted Masons, Boston ; of the Roxbury Coun- cil, Royal and Select Masters; of Mt. Vernon Royal Arch Chapter; of Joseph Warren Com- mandery, Knights Templar; and a life member of Lafayette Lodge Perfection, of Giles F. Vates Council, Princes Jerusalem, of Mt. Oli- vet Chapter, Rose Croix, and of Massachusetts Consistory, thirty-second degree. He is a mem- ber of the Baptist Church, and has been a mem- ber of the church at Newton Centre, Rev. S. F. Smith, D.D., pastor, which he joined in 1851 ; of the church at Alton, Ill. (joined in 1854), the First Baptist Church in New York City (joined 1860), the Dudley Street Baptist Church, Rox- bury District, Boston ( 1865), and the First Baptist Church, Brookline (1874). In 1868 he became a member of the Boston Baptist Social Union, rep- resenting sixty-four Baptist churches, served as director two terms, was elected vice-president in 1888 and president in 1889. During his term as president the organization took a new lease of life as a result of his energetic efforts in its behalf. In 1880 he was elected a life member of the trus- tees of Tremont Temple, Boston. He was ap- pointed justice of the peace in 1870, notary public, 1872, and commissioner for New Hamp- shire (appointed by Governor Weston) in 1876. He has been a member of the Brookline Thurs- day Club since 1874, and member of the Trade Club, Boston, for seven years, elected treasurer of the latter in 1891. Captain Sears was mar- ried in February, 1863. at Roxbury, by the Rev. Dr. Rollin H. Neale, to Miss Emily A. Faunce, daughter of Stephen and Rebecca W. (Langley) Faunce. By this marriage were four sons : William B., Jr. (born in Roxbury District), Langley B. ( Roxbury District), Harry Bowers (Roxbury District), and Stephen Faunce Sears ( Brookline). His second marriage was on Octo- ber 24, 1881, by the Rev. Richard Montague, of Providence, R.L., to Miss Sadie A. Hunt, daugh- ter of Joshua and Anne ( Pearce) Hunt. By this is one son, Edward H. Sears thorn September 25, 1885, at Brookline). Ilis present place of business is at 45 Kilby Street, Boston; and his residence, Prospect Street, Brookline.

SHAW, EDWARD PAYSON, of Newburyport. treasurer and receiver-general of the Common- wealth, is a native of Newburyport, born Septem- ber 1, 1841, son of Samuel and Abigail (Bartlet)

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Shaw. He is a descendant on the maternal side of Richard and Mary Bartlet, long residents in Essex County, the former a brother of the Hon. William Bartlet, who was called " Jew Bartlet " on account of his wealth, which was great for his day. Mr. Shaw was educated in the public schools, and was early at work earning his own living. At the age of eighteen he was in business for himself, driving a hack. the youngest driver ever licensed in New- buryport. He continued in that business from 1859 to 1863, when, having been industrious and frugal, he was enabled to purchase an express business, and established " Shaw's Express," run-

E. P. SHAW.

ning between Boston and Newburyport. In 1871. after eight years of success as an expressman, he entered the wholesale flouring and produce busi- ness, becoming a member of the firm of Sumner. Swasey, & Currier. Eight years later, buying out his partners, he succeeded the firm : and the busi- ness was continued under his name alone until 1881. At about that time he began the business of running steamers on the Merrimac and other waters, and subsequently became the owner and manager of the "People's Line" of steamers on the Merrimac and also plying between Amesbury and Boston. In 1882 he received the first con- tract from the United States for building the jetty

at the mouth of the Merrimac River : and for fur- nishing the stone he opened the Newburyport quarry on the river near Chain Bridge. from which eighty thousand tons of stone for the work were taken. In 1884 he engaged in street railway en- terprises, becoming lessee of the Newburyport and Amesbury Horse Railway. This he retained for about three years, then built the Plum Island Street Railway, and became its first president. Subsequently he sold the controlling interest. In 1889 he became interested in building electric street railways, and is to-day a large owner in a number of prosperous lines. He was president of the Newburyport Board of Trade for several years, and is now president of the First National Bank of Newburyport, of which he has been a director for a long period. Mr. Shaw's public life began as a member of the Newburyport City Council, in which he served two terms. Subsequently he was clected to the lower house of the Legislature, and served two terms in succession, 1881-82. Six years later, 1888-89, he was returned. and served again two terms. He was next elected to the Senate, where he served through the sessions of 1892-93. In the latter body he was chairman of the committee on street railways, and in both branches he served on the committee on banks and banking, and on other important committees. He was elected to the State treasurership in May, 1895, in place of Henry M. Phillips, resigned, re- ceiving a strong indorsement for the position from his business and political associates. In politics he has been a steadfast Republican, and has oc- cupied the chairmanship of the Newburyport Re- publican committee from 1892 to 1895. He is connected with numerous fraternal organizations. being a Freemason, member of St. Mark's Lodge. Newburyport, and member of the order of (dd Fellows, the Royal Arcanum, the Knights of Honor, the American Legion of Honor, the Knights of Pythias, and of other orders. Mr. Shaw was married December 24, 1867. to Miss Annie Payson Trott. They have six children : Edward Payson, Jr., Annie Bartlet. James Fuller- ton, Elizabeth Sumner, Samuel Jaques, and Pauline Shaw.

SHIRLEY. ALLAN LINCOLN, M.D .. of East Bridgewater. is a native of Maine, born in Frye- burg. February 15, 1865, son of Franklin and Emily (Page) Shirley. Hle comes of notable English and New England stock. His great-

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great-grandfather, Edward Shirley, born in Burton, Devonshire, England, about the year 1743, was impressed into the military service, and came to this country just before the Revolutionary War. Disliking his impressment and sympathizing with the Revolutionists, he deserted the Royalists' ranks, and Hled to General Stark, who, fearing that he would be discovered by the British, and pun- ished as a deserter, either allowed him to assist him in building his house or kept him out of sight altogether. Afterward he settled in Frye- burg, where Jonathan, the great-grandfather of Dr. Shirley. Edward, 3d, his grandfather, and

A. L. SHIRLEY.

Franklin, his father, were all born. In England the Shirleys were early united with the Washing- tons by marriage. The statement is made that Lawrence Washington, of Gray's Inn, ancestor of George Washington, who was for some time mayor of Northampton, and in 1538 received from Henry VIII. the Manor of Sulgrave, married a daughter of Shirley, Earl Ferrars. If this is correct, Shirley blood flowed in George Wash- ington's veins. Elizabeth Washington, grand- daughter of Sir Lawrence Washington, of Gars- don, Wiltshire, second son of the first Lawrence, married Robert Shirley, Baron Ferrars, of Chart- ley, afterward Earl Ferrars. Dr. Shirley's mater-

nal ancestor, Cornelius Page, was probably born in Dedham, England, and came to Haverhill, Mass., not far from 1660. Colonel David Page, his great-grandson and the great-great-grand- father of Dr. Shirley, was one of the original seven men who went from Pennacook (now Con- cord, N.H.), in 1763, into the then wilderness of Maine, and settled "Seven Lots," which later be- came the village of Fryeburg. He was one of the first trustees of Fryeburg Academy in 1792, and was for many years an acting magistrate. He and others of the seven men had been in the French War with Rogers, and had participated in the daring exploits of " Rogers's Rangers"; and in one of the Rogers lake fights he had suffered wounds in the leg from a musket-ball. Dr. Shir- ley's great-grandfather, Robert Page, his grand- father, Albion. and his mother, Emily, lived and died in Fryeburg. In this Page family the medi- cal profession has been extensively represented. Dr. Horatio N. Page, formerly of Brewer, Me., and later of Chelsea, Mass., was great-uncle of Dr. Shirley : Drs. Alpheus F. Page, of Bucksport, Me., and Samuel Bradbury, of Oldtown, Me., whose mother was a Page, were cousins to his mother ; Dr. William Page, of Brunswick, Me., was a cousin to his grandfather; and the Hon. Jonathan Page, M.D., a practitioner in Brunswick, Me., before any medical college had been estab- lished there, and who was also a teacher of medi- cine, frequently having a large number of stu- cents under his instruction, was a son of Colonel David l'age. He was prominent in public affairs, a State senator in 1812-20-21, member of the Constitutional Convention 1819-20 ; was an orig- inal member of the Maine Medical Society, and an overseer of Bowdoin College for upward of twenty years. His house in Brunswick was spa- cious, and his disposition hospitable ; and the cel- ebrated Scotch anatomist, Dr. Alexander Ramsey, who travelled through the country, giving anatom- ical lectures, carrying his specimens with him, made his headquarters at Dr. Page's when he lect- ured in Brunswick. Allan L. Shirley was edu- cated in the public schools of Fryeburg and at the Fryeburg Academy, from which he graduated in 1886. He took up his medical studies immedi- ately after leaving the academy,-a year and a half with Dr. D). Lowell Lamson, of Fryeburg, a graduate of the University Medical College of New York City, and a man of rare scholarship, and then entering Bowdoin Medical College,

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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 108

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