Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 120

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 120

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

JOHN MATTSON.

partly in England. He came to Boston in 1884, and three years later established the business in which he is at present engaged. His specialty is the buying, selling, and exchanging of suburban property; and of late years he has built many houses in the suburbs. In 1892 he established in connection with his real estate office a Swedish newspaper, the Argus, which is now the recog- nized Swedish paper of America. Subsequently he was elected president of the Swedish Building Society, which position he still holds. He is a thirty-second degree Freemason, a member of the Massachusetts Consistory, and of the Boston Commandery, Knights Templar.

MCCLELLAN, ARTHUR DAGGETT, of Boston, member of the Suffolk bar, was born in Sutton, May 21, 1850, son of John and Ama I. (Daggett) McClellan. On the paternal side he is descended from James McClellan, who came to America from England in 1718, and settled in Worcester, Mass. Samuel, the brother of James, was the ancestor of General George B. McClellan. On the maternal

side he descended from John Doggett, who came with Governor Winthrop's party in 1630, and set- tled the same year with Sir Richard Saltonstall in Watertown. Thomas Doggett, of London, the de- scendant of a common ancestor, was the Doggett who gave the waterman's coat and silver badge to be rowed for in honor and commemoration of the accession of King George I. to the English throne. The prize was first rowed for in 1715, and has been rowed for every year since, from London Bridge to the White Swan, Chelsea. The race has always been one of the great aquatic events of the year. A descendant of the John Doggett who came to this country in 1630, Naphali Daggett (the spelling of the name having been changed ), was president of Yale College during the Revolu- tion. Mr. McClellan received his early education in the Grafton High School and the Worcester Academy, graduating from the latter in 1869, and graduated from Brown University in 1873. In college he held good rank, and at the same time was much interested in athletics, particularly in rowing. He was on the freshman crew of 1870 which won the race on Lake Quinsigamond against Harvard, Yale, and Amherst ; also on the University crew the following years. He was noted for great physical development, and for many years was called in boating circles "the little giant." He began his professional studies in October, 1873, in the office of Bacon & Aldrich, Worcester, which soon after became Bacon. Hop- kins, & Bacon, Mr. Aldrich being appointed to the Superior Bench, and W. S. B. Hopkins taking his place in the firm. While a student in their office, Mr. McClellan was law reporter for the Worcester Gasette, and received high commendation for this work. In October, 1874, he left the office of Bacon, Hopkins, & Bacon, and at once entered that of Charles H. Drew & Albert Mason, the lat- ter the present chief justice of the Superior Court. as a student, and at the same time attended the Boston University Law School, taking the whole course in one year. He graduated in June, 1875, and the same month was admitted to the Suffolk bar, and began practice in the office of Drew & Mason in which he had studied. He remained there about two years, when a partnership was formed with Charles C. Barton and George S. Forbush, under the name of Barton, Mcclellan, & Forbush. This partnership continued about two years, when a new firm was formed under the style of Barton & McClellan, which held for five years.

898

MEN OF PROGRESS.

Since that time Mr. Mcclellan has practised alone, but in offices jointly with Mr. Barton. In 1886 he began the publication of the Daily Law Bulletin, the scope of which was to publish each day the lists of all the cases for trial the next day in all the courts of the county, together with the names of counsel engaged on both sides; also the result of all cases tried during the day, the verdict of the jury or the finding of the court as the case might be. The Bulletin was later enlarged to in- clude the same information in Norfolk and Mid- dlesex counties, and also chattel and real estate mortgages in the three counties, and rescripts of

ARTHUR D. MCCLELLAN

the Supreme Court. It was the first publication of its kind in the country, but the idea was soon after copied in most of the large cities. About the same time Mr. McClellan was also interested in the publication of the Banker and Tradesman, a weekly issue, containing, with other matter, full information concerning transfers and mortgages of real and personal estate. He, however, soon gave up these interests on account of an enlarging law practice. In his practice, which has been ex- tensive and lucrative, he has gained quite a repu- tation in the organization of corporations and in the direction of their legal and financial affairs. While active as counsel for land companies and

steam and street railways in process of construc- tion, he acquired a knowledge of the conditions affecting real estate values in the vicinity of Bos- ton, which enabled him to make large and suc- cessful transactions in the purchase and sale of suburban real estate. Since 1889 he has been a partner in the large mercantile house of Jerome Marble & Co., of Boston and Worcester ; and he has had financial interests in several other enter- prises. He has, however, steadily continued the practice of his profession. He has been presi- dent, treasurer, and director of numerous corpora- tions, and a director in national banks. He was president in 1893-94 of the New England Paint and Oil Club ; is a delegate to the Associated Board of Trade for three years, his term having begun in 1894, and was a delegate in 1895 to the convention of the National Paint, Oil, and Varnish Association. He is a member of the Boston Art Club (its secretary from 1889 to 1895), of the University Club (one of its founders, and member of the executive committee since its organization), of the Algonquin Club, of the Exchange Club, and of a number of other social organizations of less prominence ; and secretary of the Boston Alumni Association of Brown University since 1893. In politics he defines himself as a " Mugwump " who is still a Republican. He has always refused po- litical office. He is connected with the Episcopal Church, and is a vestryman of Emmanuel, Boston. Mr. Mcclellan was married October 9, 1882, to Mrs. Mary A. Hartwell, widow of Captain Charles A. Hartwell, of the United States army, and daugh- ter of Timothy Townsend, of New York. He is at present living at the Hotel Vendome, Boston.

McGANNON, THOMAS GERALD, M.D., of Lowell, was born in Prescott, Ont., December 21, 1859, son of John and Harriet (Devereux) McGan- non. His father took part in the Papineau- Mackenzie Rebellion of 1838, when he was made a lieutenant ; and his mother was a daughter of John Devereux, one of Canada's pioneers, on her mother's side a direct descendant of the Annes- leys. He was of a family of nine children, eight boys and one girl. Three of the boys became phy- sicians, and one is now a medical student. He was educated in the common schools of his native town and at St. Catherine's Collegiate Institute, graduating in June, 1881 ; and fitted for his pro- fession at McGill Medical College, Montreal, where

899

MEN OF PROGRESS.

he was graduated March 9, 1886. Two months later, in May, he also passed the examination of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at To- ronto, Ont. He began practice the same month in the town of Brockville, Ont., under the direc- tion of his brother, since deceased, but remained there only until August, when he removed to Lowell, where he has since been established. He is now attending physician on the staff of the Lowell General Hospital, gynecologist of the out- patient department of the same institution, at- tending physician and surgeon in the out-patient department of the Lowell City Hospital, and

T. G. McGANNON.

examining surgeon to the Atlas Accident Insur- ance Company, the Odd Fellows' Accident In- surance Company, and the Union Mutual Life Insurance Company. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and an Odd Fellow of both the British and American order. Dr. McGannon was married October 5, 1892, to Miss Blanche E. Fay, of Lowell.

MEAD, EDWIN DOAK, of Boston, editor of the New England Magazine, is a native of New Hampshire, born in Chesterfield, Cheshire County, September 29, 1849, son of Bradley and

Sarah (Stone) Mead. His boyhood was passed on a farm in one of the loveliest parts of New England, and his early education was acquired in the country schools. Upon leaving school, he went into his brother-in-law's store in the village. He was a studious youth ; and his leisure hours through the days, the busy time in the store being the evening. were spent in reading and study. He also thus early indulged in writing; and one of his favorite diversions was the making of a little magazine, composed of essays and stories of his own composition. Across the river in Brattleborough was the home of his uncle and cousins, among them Larkin G. Mead, who after- ward became the widely known sculptor, William Mead, subsequently of the celebrated firm of architects, McKim, Mead, & White, and Eleanor, who became the wife of William D. Howells. With Howells, whom he first met just after the latter's return from the consulship at Venice. a warm friendship ensued, which was a strong factor in shaping his subsequent life. A little later Howells, then having become connected with the Atlantic Monthly, procured him a place in the Boston counting-room of Ticknor & Fields. where he remained for nine years, gaining a prac- tical knowledge of business affairs, and coming in contact with many of the eminent men of letters of that time who were accustomed to make the place a literary headquarters. In 1875 he went abroad to prepare himself for orders in the Epis- copal church ; but before his studies had far pro- gressed his - orthodoxy had become weakened through fuller acquaintance with New England Transcendentalism and English Broad Church teachings, and in 1876 he formally withdrew from his church. He remained in Europe nearly five years, engaged mostly in study in Oxford, Cambridge, and Leipzig. He also lived a year in London, working in the British Museum. Dur- ing this period he contributed to American mag- azines various articles on the English Broad Churchmen, and his pen was active in other di- rections. In 1881, after his return to this coun- try, he edited a collection of sermons by Stopford Brooke of England, under the title of " Faith and Freedom," and the same year published his first book, "The Philosophy of Carlyle." This was followed three years later by " Martin Luther : . 1 Study of Reformation." Meanwhile Mr. Mead had entered the lecture field, and become known in Western cities as well as in the East as an able

900

MEN OF PROGRESS.

lecturer on literary, historical, philosophical and political reform subjects. He had also become one of the most active members of the Free Re- ligious Association, and had taken a leading part in the organization of popular educational move- ments. He developed the now famous Old South Work,-the regular series of historical lectures and studies in history and politics for young folk in the Old South Meeting-house,- instituted by the late Mrs. Mary Hemenway, who, as Mr. Mead has said, "has done more than any other single individual in the same time to promote popular interest in American history, and to pro-

EDWIN D. MEAD.

mote intelligent patriotism"; and he has person- ally prepared the useful and important series of "Old South Leaflets" published in connection with this work, largely reproductions of original papers, with historical and bibliographical notes. These leaflets, the general series of which now numbers nearly one hundred, covering a great range of subjects, have been especially com- mended by college professors, masters of high schools, historical writers, lecturers and students, and are widely circulated throughout the country. Mr. Mead was one of the founders of the Massa- chusetts Society for Promoting Good Citizenship, and has been its president for the past three

years. He was also one of the founders of the Twentieth Century Club, an organization formed in Boston in 1893 for the free discussion of all questions bearing on the life and progress of to-day,- of the council of which he is now presi- dent. He has been prominent in movements for municipal reform, taking a leading part in na- tional as well as local conferences ; and he holds the position of secretary of the newly formed Boston Municipal League. He became con- nected with the New England Magasine in 1889, as associate editor, with the Rev. Dr. Edward E. Hale, who had been induced to undertake its conduct, and to establish it especially as a popu- lar vehicle for spreading a knowledge of New England history. Mr. Hale retiring at the end of a year, Mr. Mead then became chief editor ; and he has since held this position, steadily broadening his reputation and displaying a ca- pacity for successful editing of the best order. Mr. Mead's later publications, besides the "Old South Leaflets " and his regular contributions to the New England Magazine, which are largely grouped in the "Editor's Table," and consist of free, frank, and thoughtful discussion of the time- liest of topics, include "the Roman Catholic Church and the Public Schools." published in 1889 ; "The Constitution of the United States, with Historical and Bibliographical Notes and Out- lines for Study "; and "Outline Studies of Hol- land," published for the National Bureau of Unity Clubs. His principal lectures have been a course of six on "The Pilgrim Fathers," treating of l'uritanism, New England in England, New Eng- land in Holland, Bradford's Journal, John Rob- inson, and Plymouth ; " America in the American Poets," a course of four lectures devoted to our greater poets,- Emerson, Lowell. Longfellow, and Whittier,- showing the use which they have made of American subjects and the value of their services for American life and thought; and single discourses on such subjects as " The Study of llistory," " The English Commonwealth," "The British Parliament," " Gladstone," " Samuel Adams and Patrick Henry," " Washington's Rela- tions to the Great West," " Carlyle and Emerson," and " Representative Government." He has de- livered numerous addresses before various educa- tional organizations, at conventions and confer- ences, and while occupying the editorial chair has occasionally contributed to the leading re- views. Mr. Mead is unmarried.

901

MEN OF PROGRESS.

MONTY, ALBERT WILLIAM, of Boston, leather business, is a native of New York, born in the town of Chazy, Clinton County, on the west shore of Lake Champlain, June 17, 1840. He is of an old colonial family, and a descendant of John and Joseph Monty, both of whom served through the Revolutionary War. He was edu- cated in the public schools of his native place. At the age of twenty he came to Lowell, and entered the employ of the Lawrence Manufactur- ing Company. The next year, upon the outbreak of the Civil War, he left his place, and enlisted in the Andrew Sharpshooters. After a service of one

ALBERT W. MONTY.

year, and when the company was disbanded, he was discharged on account of physical disability ; but within a month he was again on his way to the front, as a member of the Twelfth Massachu- setts Regiment, Colonel Fletcher Webster com- manding. His service then continued to the end of the war. At the elose of hostilities Mr. Monty returned to Lowell, and engaged in the leather business, with which he has since been connected. He removed to Boston in 1884. Mr. Monty has long taken an active interest in politics. Starting as a Democrat, he was a member of the ward and city committees of Lowell for fifteen suc- cessive years. He has served two terms in the

Lowell Common Council ( 1878-79), and was a candidate for alderman-at-large in 1880, but failed of election by a slight margin, though coming the nearest to it of any of his party. The next year he was a candidate for the Legislature, in- dorsed by men of both parties, but was defeated by a combination of liquor interests against him. Upon his removal to Boston he became affiliated with the Republican party, and took an active part in party affairs ; and in 1895 he was elected as a Republican to the Legislature from Ward Nine. He is an Odd Fellow, member of Merri- mac Lodge, No. 7. and Monamack Encampment, No. 4. of Lowell.

NORRIS, HowEs, of Boston and Cottage City, was born in Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard. Nov. 2. 1841, son of Captain Howes and Kiwina Manville (Smith) Norris. His ancestors on the paternal side came from Bristol, England ; and on the maternal side he traces his ancestry through Hope Howland, wife of Elder John Chapman, to John Howland and Elizabeth Tilly, his wife, pas- sengers in the " Mayflower." He is also connected on the maternal side with several of the older fami- lies of the Vineyard, -- the Mayhews, Nortons, But- lers, and others, - the Coffins and Starbucks, well- known Nantucket names, and the Chapmans, Skiffs, and Presburys, of Sandwich. His mother was a daughter of Nathan and Polly (Dunham) Smith, of Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard. His father was a ship captain, and was murdered at sea in 1842 while on a voyage in the Pacific Ocean, in the whale-ship " Sharon " of Fairhaven, by a band of savages from one of the Kint Mills group of islands, who attacked and captured the ship. His mother also died a tragic death, being killed by lightning. in 1851, in her own home: and his brother Alonzo was lost in the wreck of the steamer " Austria," burned at sea in 1858. When his mother died, he was hardly ten years old, and was taken into the family of his uncle, Shaw Nor- ris, who then lived in that part of the Vineyard which is now Cottage City. Here, though enjoy- ing a good home, his boyhood was full of hard work. as chore boy and farm hand. Meanwhile he ob- tained a good education in the public schools of the place, and subsequently at a private boarding- school in Middleborough which he attended for three years. He also took a business course at Comer's Commercial College in Boston. At the

902

MEN OF PROGRESS.

outbreak of the Civil War he repeatedly sought a subordinate place in the army and navy ; but, fail- ing in this, he went to Springfield, and took a clerkship with a relative who was engaged in the manufacture of small arms. Being the first clerk employed in the new business, he had an oppor- tunity to advance with its development; and, quick to improve this, he was soon the practical head of the concern, which was employing a large force and doing a trade extending into the millions annually. He became known as an arms expert, and was engaged as such in court cases involving questions connected with the cost and production

HOWES NORRIS.

of small arms. With the close of the war this prosperous business ended, and Mr. Norris turned

his attention to other lines of manufacturing. In 1867, when he was but twenty-six years of age, he was offered the position either of manager or treas- urer of the Remington's great arms manufacturing house at Ilion, N.Y. ; but he declined both, and also a European connection with his employer. Joining then a few leading men of Springfield, he organized a company for the manufacture of knitting-ma- chines, and, taking the treasurership, conducted a successful business until November, 1868, when he withdrew, and returned to Martha's Vineyard to look after his interests there, having for some

years owned a ships' supplies house established by his uncle, with which he had been familiar from boyhood. Taking sole charge of this busi- ness, he became widely known in commercial circles in the Atlantic ports and the British Provinces. He continued here alone until 1881, at the same time performing various public duties and engaging in active political work. From 1869 to 1886 he was the marine news agent of the As- sociated Press for the Vineyard, which is the most important marine post on the coast outside the great cities. From 1869 to 1873 he was sheriff of Dukes County, first appointed by Gov- ernor Claflin to fill a vacancy, and afterward elected to the position, receiving a unanimous vote. In 1869, also, he was commissioned as notary pub- lic and justice of the peace, and has so served continuously since that time. From 1879 to the autumn of 1885 he was the owner, editor, and pub- lisher of the Cottage City Star, originally started to promote the cause of the " Divisionists" in the struggle for the establishment of the town of Cottage City, which cause was successful under his leadership, the new town being incorporated in 1880. In 1887 he became interested in a new method of rolling seamless steel tubing, known as the Kellogg process ; and he has since devoted himself mainly to this enterprise, as president of the corporation engaged in it, and the executive head, with headquarters in Boston. In politics Mr. Norris is an ardent Republican, and he has been concerned in political matters from early manhood. When yet at school, a student at Comer's Commercial College in Boston in 1860, he was a member of " Lincoln Guard No. 1," con- nected with the Republican organization of " Wide Awakes " in the campaign of that year. While a resident of Springfield, he was secretary of nearly all the Republican caucuses, conventions, and meetings held there during that period; and in 1864 was the secretary and practically the manager of the Lincoln Club of Springfield. Upon his return to Martha's Vineyard he at once took a prominent part in politics there, and sub- sequently served for many years on the various party committees in that section of the State. For nearly the entire period from 1883 to 1892 he was a member of the Republican State Com- mittee, finally in August, 1892, resigning the posi- tion. He attended the National Republican C'on- vention of 1892 at Minneapolis as an alternate delegate at large from Massachusetts. Before he

903

MEN OF PROGRESS.

reached his twenty-fifth year, he was urged to stand for the Legislature; but he declined, and similar calls subsequently made were declined, until 1883, when he was nominated and elected to the Senate for the sessions of 1884-85-86, taking a leading place from the start. During his first term he was chairman of the committee on printing and a member of the committees on election laws and mercantile affairs, in his second term chairman of the committee on mercantile affairs and member of the committees on railroads and printing, and in his third term chairman of the railroad commit- tee and member of the committees on redistrict- ing the State, and on election laws, and was the " Whip " of the Senate ; and in 1886 chairman of the Senate Republican caucus committee. He was a candidate for a fourth term in the Senate, but failed of nomination in an all-day convention, leading the vote in seventy-two ballots, and finally defeated by a slight margin. In i88t he was commissioned by Governor Long a trial justice for Dukes County, and, after holding the office for six months, resigned. Later the same position was again offered him by Governor Robinson, but he declined it. He is a member of the Middlesex, Norfolk, and State Republican political clubs. Mr. Norris was married September 16, 1863, 10 Miss Martha Daggett Luce, daughter of William Cook and Eleanora Daggett (West) Luce, of Vine- yard Haven. They have one son : lowes Norris, Jr., born March 20, 1867.

O'CALLAGHAN, THOMAS, of Boston, carpet merchant, was born in West Springfield, April 28, 1856, son of Thomas and Mary O'Callaghan. His mother, now living, is an intelligent and fairly well-educated woman from the county of Limer- ick, Ireland. Her father was an accomplished scholar and man of affairs there; and one of her brothers is now a prominent clergyman in Man- chester, England, with a wide reputation as a tem- perance lecturer and writer, and a founder of total abstinence societies. His father received a good education in County Limerick, Ireland, and, upon coming to this country, took up the trade of a tanner, which he pursued till 1880, when he en- gaged in the grocery business in Charlestown. Thomas O'Callaghan attained his education in the town of Harvard, Mass., to which place his par- ents removed when he was a child of three, and in the grammar and high schools of Ayer June-

tion, removal having been made to the latter place during his boyhood. He was proficient in his studies, which, if pursued. would have fitted him for a professional career. His ambition at school was satisfied only when he was the first in his class, and it was the exception when he did not attain that rank. Ilis parents removed to Somer- ville when he was fourteen years old, and there began his battle of life. Ile immediately sought and obtained employment with J. Elliot Bond in the carpet business on Washington Street, Boston, engaging with this concern as an errand-boy and general helper. After a short while he became

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 120

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