Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 116

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 116

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nelly has, like many members of his profession, a great love of literature, and has given marked evi- dence of it in some of his professional and other efforts. Perhaps nothing in a literary way from his pen received higher approval than the sonnet on the death and burial of James Russell Lowell, published the day after the funeral, and here given : -

"No bugle blast sounds through the summer air ; Nor tramp of riderless and neighing steed In solemn march behind the car we heed, Nor muffled drum is heard; nor trumpet blare ; Nor volleyed fire; nor shrouding smoke is seen. V'et in the earth to-day a soldier's form We laid ; one who brave bore the brunt and storm Of battle front with knightly skill and mien. Kest, minstrel, after all earth's weary strife. Fair llarvard hath borne many sous, but none So tenderly beloved as those who gave Their youth, and manhood's prime, and even life. To Freedom's cause, until the field was won, And no man dared to call his brother slave."

Mr. Donnelly was married in 1893 at Providence, R.I., to Miss Amy F. Collins, daughter of James and Mary ( Donnelly) Collins.

DONOVAN, JAMES, of Boston, insurance agent. three terms president of the Democratic city com- mittee, was born in Boston, May 28, 1859, son of Michael and Ellen (Sheehy) Donovan. His par- ents were natives of County Cork, Ireland, and long resident in this country. He was educated in the Boston public schools, mainly in the Rice Grammar School, and, leaving al the age of eleven, began business life as an employee in a mercantile house. He early took an interest in politics, and became active and influential in the local Democratic organization. In 1881 he was elected a member of the Common Council. In 1883 he was a successful candidate for the Legis- lature, and through re-elections served in the lower house five consecutive terms, ISS4-88, during this period a member of numerous im- portant committees, the list including the com- mittees on mercantile affairs, on prisons, on railroads, and on redistricting the State. The next three years, 1889-90-91, he was a member of the Senate for the Fourth Suffolk District, serv- ing on the committees on railroads, engrossed bills, library (chairman), public health, military affairs, drainage (chairman), federal relations, and liquor law ; and in 1892-93-94 he was a mem-

ber of the Executive Council, representing the Fourth Councillor District. In the latter body he served as chairman of the committees on harbors and public lands and on State House extension, and member also of those on pardons and on finance. In the Democratic organization he was a member of the State Committee for three years, the larger part of that time on the executive com- mittee ; secretary of the Boston Democratic city committee two years, 1886-87 ; and he has been chairman of the city committee since 1892, elected the first time to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Mr. McDonough, and re-elected unani-

JAMES DONOVAN.

mously twice. He is a member of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusells and of the Irish Charitable Society. Mr. Donovan is unmarried.

DRURY, WILLIAM HENRY, member of the Suffolk bar, was born in Worcester, January 12. 1842, son of William E. and Martha K. ( Haskell) Drury. He is a lineal descendant of Hugh Drury, who came from England to Boston in 1640. His great-grandfathers were all natives of Massachusetts and soldiers of the Revolution. His great-grandfather, William Drury, born in Shrewsbury, later of Drury Hill, Holden, where

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he died in 1850 at the age of ninety-two, was a representative of Holden in the Legislature many years between 1802 and 1820. His grandfather,

WM. H. DRURY.

Ephraim, eldest son of William Drury, born in 1783, died in Worcester in 1863. William H. Drury was educated in the public schools of Worcester, graduating from the High School in 1861, and at Vale College, where he was gradu- ated in 1865. He studied law in the Harvard Law School in 1871 and 1872, also in the offices of Charles Robinson, Jr., and Stearns & Butler, and was admitted to the bar in 1873. Since that time he has been engaged in general practice in Boston. Among notable causes which he has successfully conducted have been several impor- tant will, admiralty, and patent cases. He is also a trustee of some large estates. He is a member of the Boston Bar Association and of the Wal- tham ('lub. In politics he is a Republican, al- though not an extreme protectionist. He has never held civil or political office, confining his attention exclusively to his profession. Mr. Drury was married September 29, 1875, to Miss Mary Alice Peters, daughter of George S. and Charlotte A. Peters, of Ellsworth, Me. They have two children : George Peters and William Clark Drury. They reside in Waltham.

DUNBAR, JAMES ROBERT, justice of the Supe- rior Court of the Commonwealth, is a native of Pittsfield, born December 23, 1847, son of Henry W. and Elizabeth ( Richards) Dunbar. He was educated in the public schools of Pittsfield and at Williams College, where he graduated in the class of 1871. He studied law in the office of the Hon. M. B. Whitney, of Westfield, and six months in the Harvard Law School, and was ad- mitted to the Hampden County bar in April. 1874. Subsequently he was admitted to practice in the United States courts. Forming a partner- ship with Mr. Whitney, he was engaged in a gen- eral practice in Westfield until his elevation to the Superior Bench, by appointment of Governor Ames, in 1888. His public service has been con- fined to two terms in the State Senate ( 1885 and 1886), in which he was a recognized leader. During the first session he served on the com- mittees on the judiciary and on election laws (chairman of the latter on the part of the Sen- ate), and was chairman of the joint special com- mittee on investigation of State House expendi- tures ; and in that of 1886 he was chairman of

-----.

JAMES R. DUNBAR.

the committees on election laws, committee on redistrieting the State, a member of the committee on bills on third reading, and of the judiciary.

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In politics he is a Republican, and was for many years a prominent and influential party leader in the Western part of the State. In 1888 he moved from Westfield to West Newton, but since 1890 has resided in Brookline. He is a member of the Brookline Thursday Club and of the Uni- versity Club of Boston. Judge Dunbar was mar- ried in Westfield, May 15, 1875. to Harriet P. Walton, daughter of George .V. and Electa . ( Lincoln) Walton. They have five children : Ralph W .. Philip R., Ruth, Helen L., and Henry F. Dunbar.

DUNNING, ROBERT SPEAR, of Fall River. artist, is a native of Maine, born in Brunswick, January 3. 1829, son of Joseph and Rebecca (Spear) Dunning. His ancestors on the paternal side came from England, when Maine was a terri- tory of Massachusetts, and settled on the .Andros- coggin River, near Brunswick and Topsham. They were descendants of the Earl of AAshburton. Mr. Dunning's father, born in 1798, came to Fall River in 1834, and built the first marine railway there. Three years later he went to sea. The mother of Mr. Dunning, born in iSoo, was a native of Brunswick, Me. He was educated in the common schools of Fall River. His first work was in the mills, where he remained for a short time: and for three years he was engaged in coasting vessels. Then he took up the study of art, at first under James Roberts, an artist at East Thomaston, Me. After seven months with Mr. Roberts he went to New York, and there studied for three years with Daniel Huntington. president of the National Academy of Design. Returning to Fall River in 1853, he opened his studio there, which he has retained ever since. His paintings have been repeatedly exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York and at the Boston Art Club. Among his later works is a full-size portrait of Washington, from Stewart's full-length portrait in the State House, Newport. R. L., painted for the Washington Society of Fall River, and now hanging in the B. M. C. Durfee High School : portraits of James Buffing- ton, first mayor of Fall River, of Edward P. Buffington, the second mayor, and of N. B. Borden, who was member of Congress and mayor afterward, and who as a member of the Legislature cast the deciding vote which elected Charles Sumner United States senator,- all of which hang in the City Hall; and a portrait of

Frank Stevens, of Swansea, for the Town Hall of that town. Mr. Dunning's work covers a wide range of subjects, - landscape, still life, figure

R. S. DUNNING.

pictures, and portraits, and are much sought for. He is a life member of the Antique School of Design at the National Academy of Design, New York. In politics first a Free Soiler, he has since been a stanch Republican. His first vote was for General Taylor. Mr. Dunning was mar- ried December 16, 1869, to Miss Mehitable D). Hill, of Fall River. They have no children.

ELIOT, CHARLES WILLIAM, of Cambridge, pres- ident of Harvard University, was born in Boston, March 20, 1834, son of Samuel Atkins and Mary (Lyman) Eliot. His father was a merchant of Boston, mayor of the city 1837-40, a member of the Legislature. a representative in Congress, and treasurer of Harvard College from 1842 to 1853. On the maternal side he is a descendant of the Lymans of Northampton, Mass., his great-grand- father. Isaac Lyman, who was minister at York, Me., for sixty years, having been born and brought up at Northampton. He was fitted for college in the Boston Public Latin School, and graduated at Harvard in the class of 1853. In college he was

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especially proficient in mathematics and chemistry, and the year following his graduation he was ap- pointed tutor in mathematics there. Meanwhile he continued his study of chemistry under Pro- fessor Josiah P. Cooke. In 1858 he was promoted to the position of assistant professor of mathe- matics and chemistry, and three years later was placed in charge of the chemical department of the Lawrence Scientific School. In 1863, his appointment at the Scientific School expiring by limitation, he went abroad, and spent the next two years in the study of advanced chemistry, and also in a close examination of systems of public in-

CHARLES W. ELIOT.

struction in England and on the Continent. Re- turning home in 1865, he was appointed professor of analytical chemistry in the Massachusetts In- stitute of Technology, which position he held for four years. In 1867-68 he was again in Europe, chiefly in France. At commencement in 1868 he was elected by the alumni a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard ; and the following year. President Thomas Hill having resigned in the autumn of 1868, he was chosen to the presidency of the university, after a prolonged contest. His election occurred on May 19, 1869; and he was formally installed in office in the following Octo- ber. Under his administration the university has

made great strides, broadened its scope, advanced the standards of admission and graduation, and been brought within reasonable distance of the great universities of Europe. Many changes in methods have been effected, the most notable being the supplanting of the old prescribed cur- riculum by the elective system, and the creation of the Graduate School in Arts and Sciences. The number of students has nearly trebled, the num- ber of professors and instructors doubled. The increase in wealth has been especially marked, the gross income apart from gifts and bequests having risen from $325,000 in 1869 to upward of a million in 1895. President Eliot has delivered a number of formal addresses, and has been a frequent speaker at educational conventions and meetings. He delivered the address at the first commencement of Smith College, Northampton, in 1879, and before the P'hi Beta Kappa at Cam- bridge in 1888 ; he spoke at the inauguration of President Gilman of Johns Hopkins University in 1876, at the opening of the American Museum of Natural History of New York in 1877, and at the centennial celebration of Washington's inaug- uration in 1889. In conjunction with Professor Frank H. Storer he published two text-books, a Manual of Inorganic Chemistry (1868) and a Manual of Qualitative Chemical Analysis (1869), and several chemical memoirs. He has also pub- lished numerous essays and speeches on educa- tional topics ; but his most important contribu- tions to educational literature are his annual reports as president of Harvard University. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, fellow of the American Philosophical Society, and member of the Massachusetts His- torical Society. He received the degree of LL.D. from Williams and Princeton in 1869, and from Vale in 1870. President Eliot was first married in Boston, October 27, 1858, to Miss Ellen Derby Peabody, daughter of Ephraim and Mary Jane (Derby) Peabody, by which union were four chil- dren, of whom two survive : Charles and Samuel Atkins Eliot. He married second in Cambridge, October 30, 1877, Miss Grace Mellen Hopkinson, daughter of Thomas and Corinna Aldrich (Pren- tiss) Hopkinson of Cambridge.

ELLIS, GEORGE HENRY, of Boston, printer and publisher, was born in Medfield, October 3, 1848, son of Samuel and Martha (Ellis) Ellis. He was

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educated in the district school, with three years at the High School of his native town, After leav- ing the High School, he spent three months in a

GEO. H ELLIS.

Boston commercial college, and then at the age of seventeen entered the office of the Christian Register as clerk. In about two years he became business manager. In 1872 he bought of the proprietors the type from which the paper was printed, and soon after purchased a small job press, which modest " plant " formed the founda- tion of his present extensive printing business. occupying in part two buildings, No. 141 Frank- lin Street and on Wales Wharf. In 1883 he ac- cepted the position of treasurer and publisher of the Boston Daily AAdvertiser, and in that position became sponsor for and first publisher of the Evening Record, the first number of which was issued in September, 1884. in January, 1886. overwork compelled his resignation of the Adver- tiser connection, and return to his own business. after a rest and a trip across the continent. As a book publisher, his imprint has appeared upon a variety of volumes, notably of Unitarian lit- erature. Born and reared on a farm, his natural taste for farming has not deserted him; and he has now under control some six hundred acres of land, with a herd of nearly two hundred Jersey

cattle, his ambition being to prove that farming can be made a successful business. Quiet home life has attractions for him which have prevented his frequent attendance at societies or clubs, al- though a member of many of them, or acceptance of offices beyond a clear call of duty. In politics he was always a Republican till 1884, when he went with the Advertiser - which then declared its independence of party, and " bolted " the nomi- nation of Blaine - away from the fold. Mr. Ellis was married first, October 3. 1869. to Miss Sarah Dale, who died September 18, 1884, leaving two children : Herbert D. (now associated with his father in the business) and Martha E. Ellis. He married second. December 25, 1886, Miss Eliza- beth Shaw.

FERGUSON, WILLARD BIXEN, of Malden, president of electric railway companies, is a native of Maine, born in Troy, December 20, 1844, son of Nahum and Betsey (Tasker) Fer- guson. Ile is of Scotch descent on the paternal side, and of English on the maternal side. ITis father's ancestors came from Scotland in 1780.

W. B. FERGUSON.

and settled in Eliot, Me .. engaged in farming. He was educated in the public schools. At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Fourteenth

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Maine Regiment, and served for three years in the Civil War. In 1874 he moved to Salem, where he became interested in the street railroad business. He continued in that business for about fifteen years, when, electricity coming to be used as a motive power for street railways, he connected himself with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company. Subsequently he re-entered his old business under the new conditions, and became connected with numerous enterprises. He is at the present time president and direc- tor of the Gloucester, the South Middlesex, the Athol & Orange, the Gloucester, Essex, & Ber- erly, and the Milford, Holliston, & Framingham Street Railway Companies. He is a Freemason, an Odd Fellow, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Kernwood Club of Mal- den. In politics he has been a steadfast Republi- can. He was married September 2, 1871, to Miss E. Jannette Coffin. They have two daughters : Anna L. and Lila G. Ferguson.

FITZPATRICK, THOMAS BERNARD, of Boston, merchant and manufacturer, was born in Grafton, December 17, 1844, son of Patrick and Mary (Gannivan) Fitzpatrick. His parents came to this country from Ireland, and, by industry and econ- omy, provided a good home for their children, while making many sacrifices for their education. His father became a thrifty farmer at Hopkinton ; and most of the son's boyhood days were spent there in hard farm work, early and late, and in getting an education at the village schools. He attended two sessions a year of the district school, which was two miles distant from the farm ; and by most diligent study he was prepared, at the age of four- teen, to enter the High School. He was the first Catholic boy to attend the latter school. 11- though he was able to take but two of the four terms yearly there, walking to and from his home daily, three miles each way, he kept up with his class by home study for the four years' course, and graduated with much credit at the age of eighteen. Then, anxious to get into business life, he came to Boston ; and, finding a place in the dry-goods store of E. D. Bell & Co., with two dollars a week as wages, he began at the first round of the ladder. In the same store was en- ployed a boy of about his own age, Oliver H. Durrell ; and the two, becoming intimate, talked over their prospects, and laid plans for future

business together. About a year after he entered this store, Bell & Co. sold out ; and he found a place in a higher grade, with Schofield, Barron,

T. B. FITZPATRICK.

& Co. Subsequently he was employed by Mason, Tucker, & Co., and travelled for that house with samples for seven years, meeting with notable suc- cess in selling a large trade in the New England States. Ile left the latter place in July, 1872, to engage with Brown. Dutton, & Co., where Oliver H. Durrell, his first business friend and constant associate, had been employed for some time. Directly after the great fire of November following this firm dissolved, and the firm of Brown, Durrell, & Co. was formed, with Brown, Durrell, and Fitzpatrick as partners ; and thus the plan of the friends talked over and resolved upon when they were boys, ten years before, was carried out. The firm steadily developed, becoming one of the largest and most popular in the country in the fancy dry-goods trade, doing a business of several millions yearly ; and it is universally con- ceded that its success is in a large part due to the enterprise of Mr. Fitzpatrick and his grasp of modern business methods. Although applying himself closely to business, he has been a careful student of public questions and an active worker in the cause of charity and philanthropy. He is

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a director of the United States Trust Company, and of the Union Institution of Savings, and has been of great assistance in forming and aiding the Newton Co-operative Bank. He has been an ac- tive member of several charitable and patriotic societies, and has done much during the past ten years in support of the Irish Home Rule move- ment in Massachusetts. He was formerly presi- cent of the Catholic Union of Boston, and is now one of the trustees of the Catholic Summer School of America. In politics he is a Democrat, and is a firm believer in the application of civil ser- vice reform methods in municipal, State, and national affairs. Mr. Fitzpatrick was married January 13, 1876, to Miss Sara M. Gleason, of Fitchburg. They have six children : Frank, Paul, Thomas, William, Mary, and Bessie Fitzpatrick. He resides in West Newton.

FLAHERTY, JOHN JOSEPH, of Gloucester. member of the Essex bar, is a native of Glouces- ter, born March 27. 1858, son of Michael and Catherine (Folan) Flaherty. His education was

JOHN J. FLAHERTY.

acquired in the common schools. He was ad- mitted to the bar March 4, 1885. Beginning practice at once, he early built up a prosperous

and successful business. He is now counsel for the Cape Ann Savings Bank. the Gloucester Mutual Fishing Insurance Company, and other corporations and business firms. He is a mem- ber of the Commonwealth Club and president of the Gloucester Athletic Club. He was married November. 1887. to Miss Abby S. Lunderkin, who died October 26, 1891, leaving one boy, John J. Jr., now living, and one daughter since deceased.

FOSS, EUGENE NOBLE, of Boston, manufact- urer, is a native of Vermont, born in the town of West Berkshire, September 24, 1858, son of George Edmond and Marcia (Noble) Foss. Ilis early education was acquired in the public schools of St. Albans, and he fitted for college at the Franklin County Grammar School there. lle en- tered the Vermont State University at Burlington in the autumn of 1877, but at the end of the soph- omore year left, to engage in business, having early exhibited a taste for active business rather than professional life. He started in the au- tumn of 1879 as a travelling salesman for the St. Albans Manufacturing Company, introducing a patent drying apparatus throughout the West. In the spring of 1882 he became associated with the late Benjamin F. Sturtevant, manufacturer of blowers. as manager of his business ; and upon the foundation of the Benjamin F. Sturtevant Company in 1890. after the death of Mr. Sturte- vant, he was made treasurer and general manager of the corporation, the position he still holds. Meanwhile Mr. Foss had become concerned in other business interests ; and he is now also presi- dent of the Jamaica Plain Gaslight Company. a director of the Massachusetts Loan and Trust Company, and treasurer of the New England Phonograph Company. He is interested in edu- cational and denominational matters, as a trustee of the Vermont Academy at Saxton's River. Vt .. a trustee of the Newton Theological Seminary, and a director of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation. In politics he is an earnest Republi- can. but his large business interests have pre- vented his taking an active part in political affairs. He has, however. served one term as chairman of the Republican ward and city committee for Ward Twenty-three, and for a longer period as a mem- ber of the Republican Congressional committee of his district. He has also served for some time on the directory of the Home Market Club. He is

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a member of the Boston Art, the Exchange, the Jamaica, and the Eliot clubs. Mr. Foss was mar- ried June 12, ISS4, to Miss Lilla Sturtevant.

E. N. FOSS.

daughter of the late Benjamin F. Sturtevant, his former employer, of Jamaica Plain. They have four children, two boys and two girls : Benjamin Sturtevant (born October 9. 1886), Guy Noble (born April 8, 1888), and Esther and Helen Foss, twins (born January 20, 1894).

GARRETT, EDMUND H., of Boston, artist, was born in Albany, N. Y., October 19, 1853, son of Anthony and Eliza A. (Miers) Garrett. His paternal grandfather was a native of Bordeaux, named Francis Grenier, who, upon becoming an American citizen, anglicized Grenier to Garret. Afterward the spelling was changed to Garrett. His paternal grandmother was Joanna Van Cam- pano, born in Brussels, Belgium. His mother's father was James Alexander Miers, born in New York City, and her mother, Deborah Hart (Mas- sey) Miers, born in Lynn, Mass., and a direct descendant of the first child born in Salem. Ed- mund H. was educated in the public schools of Roxbury and of Boston. For several years, be- ginning in 1869, he worked at wood engraving,

and then studied art. He was a pupil first of John B. Johnston in Boston, and afterward of Jules Lefebvre, G. R. C. Boulanger, and Jean Paul Laurens in Paris. He first exhibited in oils at the Boston Art Museum in ISSo, and he has since exhibited at the Paris Salon and at the principal water - color exhibitions in the United States. In ISgo he received a silver medal for his water colors at the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association exhibition in Boston. The same year the Boston Art Club bought his pict- ure, " Boon Companions," from the spring exhibi- tion of the club, in which the painting occupied the place of honor. Most of Mr. Garrett's works have been published in books to which he has contributed letter-press as well as illustrations. He has published through the house of Little, Brown, & Co., of Boston, and Osgood, Mellvaine, & Co., of London, a collection of lyrics, " Eliza- bethan Songs," and through the same house in Boston and J. M. Dent, of London, " Three Heroines of New England Romance," partly writ- ten by himself. \ late volume is " Victorian Songs," brought out in 1895. Other books

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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 116

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