Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 133

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 133

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and Wakefield, Mass., were among the places at which he was thus welcomed as a public speaker. Upon the lyceum courses in some towns he ap- peared nearly every season. In 1871 he was appointed professor of physical geography in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and in 1878 became professor of geology and geography. In 1875 he was made an instructor of geology in Boston University, and four years later advanced to the professorship. In 1882 he became con- nected with Wellesley College as stated lecturer in geology; and in 1888 he was appointed pro- fessor in charge of the department of geology,

WM. H. NILES.

which had just been established. These three professorships are held by him at the present time. He is the president of the Boston Society of Natu- ral History, which position he has occupied since 1892, and is the president of the New England Meteorological Society, and a trustee of the Pea- body Museum of Archaeology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the Geological Society of America, member of the National Geographical Society, member of the Society of American Naturalists, and corresponding member of the New York Academy of Sciences and of the l'eabody Acad- emy of Sciences, also a member of the Appalach-

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ian Mountain Club, of which he was president in 1879. Professor Niles has been a contributor to scientific literature. and among his published writ- ings the following titles appear : "Geological Formations of the Burlington Limestone," with Charles Wachsmuth, "Shells from the 'Till' in Boston Harbor," "Traces of Ancient Operations in the Oil Region of Pennsylvania," " Peculiar Phenomena observed in Quarrying," " Agency of Glaciers in the Excavations of Valleys and Lake Basins," "Expansions, Movements, and Fractures of Rocks," "Zones of Physical Features upon the Slopes of Mountains," and " Recent Floods in Germany." Much of his work is to be found in the printed Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History. He was married December 31, 1868, to Miss Helen M. Plympton, youngest daughter of Dr. Sylvanus Plympton, of Cam- bridge. They have no children.

PARTRIDGE, HORACE, of Boston, merchant, was born in Walpole, May 27, 1822, son of Hervey and Rachel (Paine) Partridge. He is on the maternal side of the Paines of Maine, a cousin of Henry W. Paine, of Cambridge. His father was a blacksmith; and his boyhood was passed in farm work and blacksmithing, with at- tendance at district schools during the winter months. From Walpole the family moved to Dedham when he was an infant. When he was twelve years old, they moved again to Newton Upper Falls, thence two years later to Mill Vil- lage, and within the next two years to South Royalston. In about 1840, when the survey of the route of the Vermont & Massachusetts Rail- road was under way, he carried the chain for a time. Although he was a working boy, his busi- ness career may be said to have fairly begun at the age of twenty, when he was engaged in selling goods for an elder brother. At twenty-one he was " on the road," selling on his own account. While the Vermont & Massachusetts road was building, he supplied the families of the work- men with groceries, dry goods, shoes, and other merchandise, over a route between Gardner and Greenfield, making his headquarters at Athol. Prospering in this enterprise, he decided to try his fortune in Boston ; and, accordingly, in 1848 he came to the city, and joined his brother, who was then engaged in the dry-goods business at No. 78 Federal Street. A year later he opened

a place of his own, at No. 49 Hanover Street, and began a brisk trade as an auctioneer. From this he soon developed into a retail and whole- sale dealer in fancy goods and Yankee notions. He remained at No. 49 Hanover Street until that building was about to be razed. Then he moved to No. 125, the " Diamond Block." A few years later, that block coming down, he made a third move to No. 105; and, that in turn after a while meeting the same fate, he moved once again, this time to No. 27. Here he was able to remain for twelve years, when, that building being doomed for the widening of the street, he was

HORACE PARTRIDGE.

obliged to make a fifth move. He then estab- lished himself at No. 51, and, soon after adding Nos. 53 and 55, became permanently fixed. His business steadily enlarged and extended until he became one of the largest dealers in his line. He was a pioneer in the Christmas toy and pres- ents trade, and early engaged in the importation of immense quantities of dolls and many branches of European toys as well as fancy goods. He con- tinued alone until his admittance to partnership of his son-in-law, Benjamin F. Hunt, Jr. Subse- quently also admitting his son, Frank P. Part- ridge, he established the firm name of Horace Partridge & Co., under which name the business

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has since been conducted. In 1885, when the Hanover Street quarters - the entire block Nos. 51 to 55 - had become outgrown, contract was made with the late Frederick L. Ames for the building then erected at Nos. 63 to 97 Lincoln Street, covering two hundred and ten feet on that street, two hundred and thirty feet on Essex Place, one hundred feet on Tufts Street, and one hundred and fifty feet on Essex Street, the firm taking a twenty years' lease of five lofts, twenty- seven thousand feet on each floor. Meanwhile a large retail store on Washington Street and Tem- ple Place was established, the original Hanover Street establishment being retained. Mr. Hunt, with Frederick R. Smith, was given charge of the Lincoln Street department, Mr. Partridge, the younger, the Washington Street store, while Mr. Partridge, senior, remained at the old stand from which these extensive branches had developed. Mr. Hunt also makes the foreign purchases for the house, going annually to Europe. Business in the commodious Lincoln Street store was car- ried on successfully till the ioth of March, 1893, when the largest conflagration that Boston had suffered since the "great fire " of 1872 occurred, in which this store was burned to the ground. Since that loss Mr. Partridge and his associates have contented themselves with the "old stand " on Hanover Street, and are determined not to experiment further on locations. The store con- ducted by Frank P. Partridge is now at No. 335 Washington, and its principal trade is bicycles and lawn tennis outfits. In addition to the con- duct of his large business, Mr. Partridge has also invested considerably in suburban real estate. He has built and owned more than a hundred dwelling-houses, and he now has a goodly village of houses in Somerville which he leases or rents. He also leases and rents a number of public halls. He has built on North Avenue (now Massachu- setts Avenue), Cambridge, within a handsome lot,- precisely the size of the ground of the Lin- coln Street store,- a comfortable house for him- self, one for his son, and two for tenants ; and on an adjoining lot Mr. Hunt has built for his family. Mr. Partridge is devoted to fruit and flower cult- ure, and takes great pleasure and pride in the cultivation of his grounds and garden. He is a life member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and possesses more than a hundred prize tickets received for his fruit and flower displays at its exhibitions. He is devoted to his business

and to work, and for upward of forty years has averaged eighteen hours of work, either in his store or upon the grounds about his Cambridge home, a day. He says that he has never had any desire to join any organization for shortening the hours of labor. Among the more than four thou- sand hands which he has employed during his business career in Boston, many have served long terms with him. One clerk has been in his em- ploy for forty years and more, and half a dozen for a quarter of a century each. He has been a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company for thirty-five years ; and he has been as attentive to the duties of membership as to his business, never missing an artillery election, parade, or dinner. In politics he is a Democrat, but has never aspired to office or been drawn to the management of political machinery, taking no part in caucussing and fighting shy of caucuses. He was married, when he was engaged in selling goods "on the road," June 17, 1847, to Miss Martha Ann Stratton, daughter of Samuel and Livia (Rawson) Stratton, of the town of Gill. They have had five children: Jenny Lind (now Mrs. Benjamin F. Hunt, Jr.), Frank Pierce (now in partnership with his father), Nellie Rosalie (now Mrs. William E. Nickerson), Lizzie Lucille, and Horace Partridge, Jr., both of whom died in infancy.

PAUR, EMIL, of Boston, conductor of the Bos- ton Symphony Orchestra, was born in Czerno- witz, Austria, July 29, 1855, son of Franz and Emilie (Rauh) Paur. His father was a musician, pupil of Czerny, a conductor, and also a teacher of music. He was educated in Vienna. His musical studies began early at home. He became a pupil at the Vienna Conservatory, studying there the violin with Hellmesberger and compo- sition with Dessoff, and soon attained a good name as an excellent pianist and violinist. He graduated from the Conservatory with high honors, receiving the first prize and the large medal, and secured the place of first violin in the orchestra of the Vienna Opera House. Soon dis- playing an exceptional talent for conducting, he was appointed to conduct a great performance of a new oratorio, " Die Sieben Todsünden," in Ber- lin ; and after that he was given the position of court conductor at Cassel in 1876, when he was but twenty-one. His success there brought him a higher offer from Königsberg, which he accepted ;

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and shortly after, in 1880, he was made first con- ductor and director of the Abonnements Konzerte and the court theatre at Mannheim. He remained in Mannheim nine years, and in 1891 went to Leipzig as first conductor at the opera, where he was engaged when he was secured by Henry L. Higginson to succeed Mr. Nikisch as the con- ductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. While at the Stadttheater he also conducted orchestra concerts in Leipzig with marked success. Mean- while he had become widely known as an accom- plished pianist, a master of the violin, and a com- poser for the violin, piano, and orchestra, and of numerous songs. He has been called by compe- tent critics one of the most thorough and conscien- tious conductors of the day, especially qualified, by his magnetism and generalship, for concert conducting. His début in Boston was made Oc- tober 13-14, 1893 ; and he has fully maintained the brilliant orchestra, of which he is at the head, at the high standard to which it was brought by his accomplished predecessors. Hs is a member of no organizations other than musical, shrinks from publicity, and is domestic in his habits. He

EMIL PAUR.

is German with all his heart. Mr. Paur was mar- ried January 29, 1882, to Marie Burger, a fine pianist, whom he first met in Mannheim, when

she was a pupil of Leschetitzky at Vienna. They have two boys : Hans and Kurt Paur.

FREDERICK H. PRINCE.

PRINCE, FREDERICK HENRY, of Boston, banker and broker, was born in Winchester, November 30, 1860. He is the youngest son of Frederick O. Prince, secretary of the National Democratic Committee for twenty-eight consecutive years, member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Con- vention in 1853, several terms a member of the General Court of Massachusetts, and mayor of Boston in 1877, 1879, 1880, and 1881. He is of distinguished ancestry, descendant in the direct line of Elder John Prince (son of John Prince, rector of East Sheffield, England, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, when the Prince family were living in Shrewsbury on their estate "Abbey Foregate"), who joined the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1633, settling in Hull, and of Thomas Prince (H.C. 1707), grandson of Elder John, who was the colleague of Dr. Samuel Sewall, minister, of the South Church in Boston from 1717 till his death in 1758, a period of forty years. His great- grandfather, James Prince, was a leading merchant of his day in Boston, naval officer at the port of Boston by appointment of President Jefferson, and subsequently marshal for the District of Massachu-

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setts under presidents Madison and Monroe. His mother was a daughter of Barnard Henry, of Philadelphia, born at Gibraltar, where Mr. Henry was United States consul for many years. He was educated in public and private schools, and entered Harvard in 1878. Leaving college in his junior year to engage in business, within five years he established the banking house of F. H. Prince & Co. (1885), and engaged in large financial oper- ations. In 1889 he entered into negotiations with Nathaniel Thayer, of Boston, and the Vanderbilts for the purchase of the Chicago Stock Yards, and organized the syndicate of London and Boston bankers who subsequently acquired the property at a valuation of $23,000,000. Subsequently he conceived the plan of uniting the Philadelphia & Reading, the Boston & Maine, and the New York & New England Railroad systems under one management, the development of which was wide-reaching in its effects, and precipitated the consolidation of rival corporations. In the reor- ganization of the New York & New England Railroad at this time he became vice-president. He is a director of the Chicago Junction Railways and Union Stock Yards Company. Mr. Prince married in 1888 a daughter of George H. Nor- man, of Newport, R.I.

QUINCY, JOSIAH, of Boston, member of the Suffolk bar, mayor of Boston for 1896-97, was born in Quincy, son of Josiah Phillips and Helen Fanny (Huntington) Quincy. He is of the dis- tinguished Quincy family, great-grandson of the Josiah Quincy who was the second mayor of Bos- ton, -- holding the office for six years, 1823-29, after having served in Congress from 1805 to 1813, several terms in the State Senate, as speaker of the House of Representatives in 1821- 22, a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1820, judge of the municipal court of Boston, and, after his retirement from the mayoralty, pres- ident of Harvard College from 1829 to 1845,- and grandson of the Josiah Quincy who was mayor of Boston from 1846 to 1849, having pre- viously been president of the Boston Common Council for five years and president of the State Senate one year (1842). His first ancestor in America was Edmund Quincy, from England in 1628, who was one of the committee appointed to purchase from William Blaxton, the first Euro- pean settler in Shawmut, now Boston, his right

to the peninsula. Edmund subsequently settled on lands granted him at Mt. Wollaston, now Quincy, and died there December, 1635. He had two sons, Daniel and Edmund, from the younger of whom - Edmund - Mr. Quincy descends in the direct line through Edmund, his second son. Of Daniel's son John, John Quincy Adams was great- grandson and namesake. Edmund. son of Ed- mund second, left two sons, Edmund - a daugh- ter of whom married John Hancock - and Josiah. Josiah was a merchant and some time in public life. He built the homestead in Quincy, until recent years occupied by his de-

JOSIAH QUINCY.

scendants, and now in the possession of the Quincy Historical Society. His third son, Josiah, was prominent among the patriots in Boston dur- ing the years immediately preceding the Revolu- tion, was a leading lawyer and orator, of counsel in the defence of Captain Preston and his soldiers concerned in the " Boston Massacre " of 1770, was conspicuous in the Old South Meeting-house gathering which was followed by the destruction of the " detested tea " in 1773, and died upon his way home from England, where he had gone to consult with friends of the patriots there, in 1775, at the youthful age of thirty-one. His son Jo- siah was the second mayor of Boston, above re-

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ferred to: the latter's son Josiah, the second Mayor Quincy of Boston ; and his son Josiah,

Josiah Phillips Quincy, - father of the present Josiah and third Mayor Quincy of Boston. Mr. Quincy's father was born in Boston, and is a member of the Suffolk bar, but has never been in practice. He is author of several dramas, one under the title of "Lyteria," published in 1855, and another entitled "Charicles," published in 1856 ; and has written numerous political essays, discussing the " Protection of Majorities " (1876). double taxation, and other questions. Mr. Quincy's mother was a daughter of Judge Hun- tington, of the former Superior Court of Suffolk County. Mr. Quincy was fitted for college at the Adams Academy, Quincy, when Dr. Dimock was head-master, and graduated from Harvard in the class of 1880. After leaving college, he served for a year as instructor in the academy in which he had been a student, under Dr. William Ever- ett who was at that time at its head. He then travelled in Europe, and upon his return entered the Harvard Law School, but took only a portion of the full course. In 1883 he was admitted to the Suffolk bar, but he has never been in active practice. His interest in public matters was manifested when a college student, and in 1881 he became secretary of the Civil Service Reform League of Massachusetts. Two years later he became secretary of the Massachusetts Tariff Reform League. He first participated actively in politics in the national campaign of 1884, as a member of the Committee of One Hundred, which represented the Massachusetts Indepen- dents leading in the movement for Cleveland against Blaine ; and from that time he has been actively identified with the Democratic party. In 1886 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature for the Fifth Norfolk District, com- posed of the towns of Quincy and Weymouth, and served two terms in that body (1887-88), retir- ing to accept in 1888 the Democratic nomination for Congress against the Hon. Elijah A. Morse, in a strong Republican district. Unsuccessful in that contest, he was returned the next year to the House of 1890, and was re-elected a member for 1891. During his four years' service in the Legislature he was active on the floor and in com- mittee work, and in the sessions of 1890 and iSgr was the recognized leader on the Dem- ocratie side. He served on the committees on labor, rules, cities, election laws, and woman suf-

frage, and also on two special investigating com- mittees. In 1890, the year in which Governor Russell was first elected, he was chosen secretary of the Democratic State Committee; in 1891 became chairman of the executive committee, and in 1892 chairman of the full committee, which position he held till 1894. He was also one of the organizers and original members of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusetts, formed in 1888. In 1892 he was a delegate to the Na- tional Democratic Convention at Chicago, and was chosen by the delegation as the Massachu- setts member of the Democratic National Commit- tee. Subsequently made a member of the cam- paign committee of the national organization, at the headquarters in New York he had charge of the preparation and distribution of documents, and of the newspaper work connected with the campaign. In March, 1893, immediately after the inauguration of President Cleveland, he was offered the position of First Assistant Secretary of State, which place he accepted with the understanding that he should only be expected to hold it temporarily, being unwilling to remain long in Washington. In this capacity - Secretary Gresham desiring to confine himself entirely to diplomatic work - Mr. Quincy represented the department in the reorganization of the consular service to improve the service and bring it into harmony with the tariff reform tendencies of the administration. After serving as AAssistant Secre- tary for six months, he resigned, and, returning to Massachusetts, took an active part in the State campaign of 1893. In the winter of 1894 he was again in Washington, acting as counsel for the Argentine government in the preparation of its side of the boundary dispute between that country and Brazil, which was submitted to Pres- ident Cleveland as arbitrator. From the close of the campaign of 1894 till his nomination for the mayoralty in 1895, he was less actively engaged in politics, devoting his attention mainly to street railway matters, having become a director of and counsel for the Quincy and Boston Street Rail- way Company and two smaller companies. He was, however, a frequent and effective speaker on the stump in the campaign of 1895. Mr. Quincy is a member of the Union Club, the Loyal Legion, and various other organizations. He is unmarried. He has resided in Boston through the winter seasons for many years, and been a legal resident of the city since 1891.

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RICHARDS, CALVIN ADAMS, of Boston, mer- chant and street railway manager, was born in Dorchester, March 4. 1828, son of Isaiah D. and Caroline (Capen) Richards ; died in Boston, Febru- ary 15, 1892. He was educated in the public schools. Leaving school at the age of thirteen to assist his father in the latter's business, he early exhibited exceptional executive ability ; and, when he was yet quite a young man, his father came to depend upon him for assistance and counsel. He devoted his thoughts and attention entirely to business and to the care of his mother, who was in delicate health during the closing years of her

C. A. RICHARDS.

life, denying himself many of the pleasures of young men. Three brothers also joined his father in the business, and he remained with them till 1861, when he opened a large establishment of his own on Washington Street ; and here during the years of the Civil War and those immediately following he amassed a fortune. While connected with his father's business, he was elected to the Boston Common Council, where he served three terms, 1858-59 and 1861. In 1862 he was a mem- ber of the Board of Aldermen. The experience he gained in these branches of the city govern- ment, especially as a speaker on the floor, he valued ; and he was thereby led to public speak-

ing, becoming especially happy as an after-dinner speaker at dining club tables, being magnetic and having a rare wit. In 1873 Mr. Richards made an extended tour of Europe with his family: and upon his return in 1874 he was induced to re- linquish business cares somewhat, and take a place in the directory of the Metropolitan Rail- road Company. In that body he soon made his executive power felt, and was urged to take the presidency of the company. This he did, and found the office no easy one. The railroad was on the verge of bankruptcy, and a powerful rival corporation had been allowed by the former man- agement aggressively to push its way. Mr. Richards's task was to restore his road to its former position, and how thoroughly he accom- plished it is known to all street railroad men famil- iar with the history of street railway development in American cities. When he entered the busi- ness, he knew nothing of street railroading: but he was quick to grasp its details, and speedily became master of the situation. Under his management the Metropolitan became the largest and one of the best managed street railways in the country, strong and rich ; and his methods were copied by other street railway companies in this country and abroad. In all matters of importance in the interest of his road, or affecting it, before the Legislature or the city government, he personally appeared ; and his arguments, with his strong per- sonal magnetism, shrewd common sense, and inti- mate knowledge of street railway affairs, were al- most always successful in winning his points and overcoming his opponents, often represented by some of the ablest attorneys of the profession. He labored zealously for the interests of the stock- holders of the road; and he had the good will of his employees, although a firm and strict master, holding all up to the line of duty, being found al- ways ready to hear and fully examine complaints and to deal fairly with those under him. In 1885 he was made president of the American Street Railway Association, composed of the executive forces of the leading street railroads in the United States and Canada : and he took great interest in the annual conventions of the organization held in the different cities, in which he made himself a power by his foresight and wisdom. He was among the earliest to predict the use of electric power for street-cars, and was almost the first man publicly to discuss it, bringing the matter forward in a memorable speech at the annual banquet of

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the American Street Railway Association given in the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York City, in October, 1884. In 1887, after the consolidation of all the street railways in Boston and the ab- sorption of the Metropolitan in the West End Street Railway Company, Mr. Richards became connected with the latter as general manager under President Whitney; but after a few week's service he resigned. Upon his retirement as president of the Metropolitan Company, with its union with the West End, he was given a com- plimentary banquet by his associates, and on this occasion was presented with a massive bronze, the silver plate of which was thus inscribed : " Pre- sented to Calvin A. Richards, by the Metropolitan Railroad Company, in recognition of his valuable services as president, by vote of the directors, October 24, 1887." For a short time after his withdrawal from the West End management he was connected with the Boston Heating Company. Then he retired to private life. The closing act of his business life was the purchase and remodel- ling of the large office building, at No. 114 State Street, which bears his name. His death was the result of disease following an attack of "la grippe," immediately after the completion of the Richards Building in January, 1890. He re- covered sufficiently from "la grippe " to pass the summer at the Isles of Shoals, and had journeyed to the South in the spring of 1891, when he had a critical attack of " angina pectoris " on the train from St. Augustine to New York. Another attack of the same trouble was suffered at Richfield Springs, where he was taking the sulphur baths, in the autumn of 1891. Thereafter he steadily failed ; and his death finally occurred suddenly, in February following, at his home in Boston. His funeral was attended by an unusually large num- ber of prominent business and professional men ; and he was mourned as an able and successful business man, a firm friend, a good neighbor, a tender and loving husband and father. Mr. Richards was married February 17, 1852, to Miss Ann R. Babcock, daughter of Dexter Babcock, of the wholesale grocery firm of Babcock &' Coolidge, Boston. They had two children : a son, who was instantly killed by lightning in 1863, and a daughter.

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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 133

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