Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 19

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 19

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HASSAM, JOHN TYLER, member of the Suf- folk bar, and a contributor to historical literature, is a native of Boston, born September 20, 1841, son of John and Abby ( Hilton) Hassam. He is a lineal descendant of William Hassam who settled in Manchester (now Manchester-by-the- Sea) about the year 1684, and on the maternal side of William Hilton who came from London to Plymouth in New England in the " Fortune," November 11, 1621. He was educated in the Boston public schools,- fitted for college in the Latin School,-and at Harvard, where he was graduated in the class of 1863. In December following his graduation he joined the Union Army as first lieutenant of the Seventy-fifth United States Colored Infantry, and served until the first of August, 1864, taking part in the Red River campaign. He began his legal studies at the opening of 1865, reading with the Hon. Am- brose A. Ranney in Boston, and was admitted to the bar on the 13th of December, 1867. Since

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that time he has practised in Boston, devoting himself principally to conveyancing. He has been concerned in much important and valuable work on the records and documents of Suffolk County, and their improved condition is largely due to his efforts. As one of the commissioners appointed by the Superior Court, in 1884, under whose authority the indices in the Suffolk Regis- try of Deeds are made, he brought about the rein- dexing of the entire mass of records there on the present plan ; and the printing of the early vol- umes of the Suffolk deeds is due to him. He also succeeded in rescuing from threatened de-

JOHN T. HASSAM.

struction a large part of the original court files of the county, and in securing their proper arrange- ment ; and through his exertions the records, files, papers, and documents in the State department, at one time in great confusion, have been systemati- cally arranged and made accessible for reference. He was one of the earliest advocates of land transfer reform in the newspaper and periodical press and before legislative committees, and he was the first member of the Suffolk bar to call public attention to the Australian or Torrens sys- tem of registration of title. He is now (1894) chairman of the executive committee of the Land Transfer Reform League of Boston. His interest

in historical and genealogical matters dates from his college days. He has been a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society since February, 1867, of the Massachusetts Historical Society since 1881, of the American Historical Association since 1884, and a corresponding member of the Weymouth Historical Society for many years. He was one of the original mem- bers of the Boston Antiquarian Club organized in 1879, subsequently, in 1881, merged in the Bos- tonian Society, and a corporate member of the latter society, for nine years a member of its board of directors. In the Historic Genealogical Society, of which he was long a director and be- came a councillor when the council was substi- tuted for the board of directors by a change in the by-laws in 1889, he first set on foot the ex- haustive researches in England, undertaken by the society through Henry F. Waters, and was for eight years chairman of the committee under whose direction the work has been carried on. He has been a frequent contributor to the so- ciety's quarterly publication, the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, and among his antiquarian and genealogical papers which have been printed in pamphlet form are : " The Hassam Family " (1870, and Additional Notes, 1889); "Some of the Descendants of William Hilton " ( 1877): " Ezekiel Cheever, and Some of his Descendants" (1879, Part Second, 1884, and Additional Notes, 1887); " Boston Taverns, with Some Suggestions on the Proper Mode of Index- ing the Public Records " (1880) ; " Early Suffolk Deeds " (1881); " The Dover Settlement and the Hiltons " ( 1882) ; " Bartholomew and Richard Cheever, and Some of their Descendants " (1882) ; " The Facilities for Genealogical Research in the Registries of Probate in Boston and London " (1884); " Land Transfer Reform " (1891 : second edition, with additional papers) ; and "Land Transfer Reform a Practical Point of View ( 1893). Mr. Hassam is also a member of the Bunker Hill Monument Association and of the Boston Bar Association. He was married in Salem, February 14. 1878, to Miss Nelly Alden Batchelder, daugh- ter of Dr. John Henry Batchelder, of Salem. They have one child : Eleanor Hassam.

HEMENWAY, ALFRED, member of the Suffolk bar, is a native of Hopkinton, born August 17, 1839, son of Fisher and Elizabeth Jones (Fitch)

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Hemenway. He was born in the house of his great-grandfather, Elijah Fitch, who was gradu- ated at Yale College in 1765, and was the second

ALFRED HEMENWAY.

pastor of the Congregational church in Hopkin- ton : he was descended from the Rev. James Fitch, the first minister of Harwich, Conn., who was a brother of Thomas Fitch, governor of Con- necticut 1754-76. Alfred Hemenway was pre- pared for college at the Hopkinton High School, and was graduated at Yale in the class of 1861. His legal studies were pursued at the Harvard Law School, and he was admitted to the bar in Boston on July 13, 1863. He has since been engaged in general civil practice in Boston, from 1879 in partnership with John 1). Long (first under the name of Allen, Long, & Hemenway, since 1891 Long & Hemenway), and retained in many important causes. For some years he was one of the bar examiners for Suffolk County. He is one of the executive committee of the American Bar Association, one of the general council of the Boston Bar Association, a member of the Yale Alumni Association of Boston (some time its president), of the University Club (now a vice-president), of the Union Club, and of the Boston Art Club. In politics he is a steadfast Republican. During the administration of Gov-

ernor Ames he was offered a seat on the Superior Court bench, but declined the honor. Mr. Hem- enway was married October 14, 1871, to Miss Myra Leland McLanathan.

HILL, EDWIN NEWELL, member of the Suffolk bar, is a native of New Hampshire, born in Nashua, March 12, 1849, son of Edwin P. and Sophia 1). (Newell) Hill. He is of English ances- try, and of early New England stock on both sides. The Hills - as the family was formerly called - settled soon after coming from England in Nottingham west, now Hudson, N.H. Elijah Hills, his great-great-grandfather, took an active part in the Revolutionary struggle, marched to Lexington, to Ticonderoga, and was at Saratoga. On his mother's side his great-grandparents were the Rev. Edmund Foster, of Littleton, and his wife, Phebe (Lawrence) Foster. Edmund Foster was at Lexington among the minute men while a theological student, and afterwards was actively interested in the early history of the State. He was known as the " fighting parson." Edwin N.

E. N. HILL.

Hill was educated in the public schools of Haver- hill, Mass., and at Harvard College, graduating in the class of 1872. After graduation he depended

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entirely on his own efforts. The succeeding year was spent in Washington in the public service ; and then he entered the office of the late Richard H. Dana, Jr., the distinguished lawyer, in Boston, where he fitted for the bar. He was admitted to practice on the 24th of April, 1876. With the ex- ception of a short time in Haverhill soon after his admission, he has practised in Boston. He has not followed any special line of business, but has had a general and responsible practice. Although giving close attention to his professional work, he keeps abreast of all public political questions, in which he is greatly interested, and has shown aptitude in advising and directing political move- ments. He was elected to the Legislature from Haverhill in 1881-82 and 1882-83, as a Repub- lican, and served on the committees on education, State Library, and railroads, on the special com- mittee for the investigation of the veto of the Union Safety Deposit Vaults bill by Governor Butler, and as house chairman on the removal of Joseph M. Day, judge of probate and insolvency of Barnstable County. Mr. Hill is now in politics a Democrat, believing in tariff reform and a per- manent civil service. He is a member of the University Club of Boston, of the Jamaica Club of Jamaica Plain, West Roxbury District, and of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusetts. For several years he has been an active member of the First Corps of Cadets, Boston, in which he takes great interest. Mr. Hill was married June 10, ISSo, to Miss Lizzie W. Briggs, of Cambridge. They have two children: Walter Newell, born September 29, 1881, and Doris Hill, born August 31, 1887.

HILL, HENRY BOZYOL, long identified with Fast Boston interests, is a native of Salem, born November 16, 1823, son of Benjamin and Anstiss Pearce (Lane) Hill. His ancestors on both sides were English, the Hills coming to America in 1727. His father, grandfather, and great-grand- father were all ship-masters. He was educated in the common schools in Salem. At the age of fifteen he made a voyage in the brig "Chili," Captain Frederick G. Ward, father of General Ward of Chinese fame, and upon his return learned the cooper's trade in the same building in which many years before the great Salem mer- chant, William Gray, as a boy, began his mercan- tile career. He began business for himself in a small way in Salem, but in 1848 moved to East

Boston, where he has resided since, with the exception of eighteen months spent in Cuba. While in Cuba, he was offered the position of

HENRY B. HILL.

commercial agent, but declined it, as he did not intend to remain on the island. In 1853, soon after his return from Cuba, he became connected in business with John K. Carlton, and later founded the firm of Hill & Wright, which thirty years afterward became the New England Steam Cooperage Company, with Mr. Hill as president. He has also been president and director of other corporations, was one of the founders of the First Ward National Bank, for some time one of its directors, and was one of the early presidents of the East Boston Trade Association. He has served several terms in the Legislature, three years in the House of Representatives (1872-73- 76) and two years in the Senate ( 1877-78). his first term a member of the committee on State House, his second chairman of the committee on printing, his third chairman of the committee on claims ; his first in the Senate, again chairman of the committee on claims and member of that on harbors, and his second in the Senate chair- man of both of these committees. Two years' ex- perience on the committee on claims caused him to put an order into the Senate requesting the

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committee of the judiciary to consider the expedi- ency of establishing some tribunal other than a legislative committee before which claims against the Commonwealth could be adjusted. Owing to the pressure of business, the committee made no report, although they gave him a hearing; but Governor Talbot, in his message of 1879, recom- mended a change, and, acting on the message, the Legislature then passed the act giving the Su- perior Court jurisdiction of such claims. Accord- ingly, the legislative committee on claims has now become a thing of the past. When the subject of establishing a municipal court in East Boston first came before the Legislature, in 1873, Mr. Hill took great interest in it; and, although the project was then defeated, it was subsequently again brought forward, when all the evidence on which the committee on the judiciary acted in re- porting it was collected and presented by him, and it successfully passed. When he was elected to the Legislature, he intended to do his whole duty as he understood it, which, he believed, in- eluded his presence every second of every session. In this respect his record was remarkable. With two exceptions,- one occasion in 1873, when he was absent a short time on a duty of importance to his constituents, and the other in 1878, when he was summoned to court as a witness, and was absent an hour or two, - he never lost a minute. He was in the House or Senate when they were called to order, and remained until adjournment was reached. In politics he was an early Repub- lican, one of the first to become a member of that party on its birth ; but, believing that "loyalty is due to the country and its best interests rather than to party," he is now an Independent. He was a warm friend of the late Rev. Warren H. Cudworth, long pastor of the "Church of Our Father " in East Boston (Unitarian), and was for many years teacher and superintendent in the Sunday-school, taking charge of the school as su- perintendent in Mr. Cudworth's absence during his journey around the world and at his death ; and he is now honorary superintendent of the school. He was also for many years moderator of the church society, and held other positions there. He is at present (1894) a councillor of the American Institute of Civics, a director and vice-president of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and di- rector and vice-president also of the American Humane Education Society. He practically re-

tired from active business in 1888; but he still retains an interest in business matters, being a member of the board of directors of the Standard Stave and Cooperage Company and a trustee of the East Boston Savings Bank. He was married on January 1, 1846, to Miss Mary Louise Saul, daughter of Captain John and Martha (Foye) Saul. They have had three children : Henrietta Louise, John Henry (who died in childhood), and Benjamin Dudley Hill.

C. D. HOLMES.

HOLMES, CHARLES DENISON, of Boston, man- ager for Massachusetts of the Covenant Mutual Benefit Association of Illinois, is a native of Ver- mont, born in Derby, July 15, 1849, only living son of Orange Simon and Laura (McGaffee) Holmes. He is a descendant of Jeremiah Holmes, an officer in the Revolution, also of Colonel George Denison and Major-General Daniel Deni- .son, of English landed nobility. He was educated in the common schools, and at Stanstead Academy in the Province of Quebec, Canada. His first ex- perience in business was with his uncle, George R. Holmes, and his father, in a general country store, which he entered at the age of fourteen. During the period of his service here he fre- quently came to Boston with his uncle to buy

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goods, and his ambition was to make this city his future home. After his uncle died he became in- terested in life insurance, and, devoting himself earnestly to this business, was soon prominent and successful. He settled in Boston in 1884, making this city his headquarters for a variety of efficient work, finally becoming the manager for Massachusetts of the Covenant Mutual Benefit Association of Illinois, one of the oldest, largest, and most successful natural premium companies in the country. In the year 1893 he accomplished for his company, as the records show, the greatest amount of business of any in the State. Mr. Holmes was married by Rev. Brooke Herford, August 28, 1889, to Miss Carrie Addie Smith, com- poser of music, one of her songs, "The Prophet," being of twenty years' standing. Mrs. Holmes is a native of Boston, and descendant of the families of Sir Montague and Sir Montacute of England. They reside at the Charlesgate.

HOPEWELL, JOHN, JR., treasurer of Sanford Mills, with offices in Boston, New York, and Chi- cago, and mills at Sanford, Me., is a native of Greenfield, born February 2, 1845, son of John and Catherine Hopewell. When he was a year old, his parents moved to Shelburne Falls; and there his early education was attained. He at- tended the public schools till he was fourteen, when he went into the establishment of Lamson, Goodwin, & Co., to learn the cutlery trade. A part of the time while here he attended night school at the academy. Subsequently he studied some time in a private school. In 1861 he went to Springfield. During the Civil War he was em- ployed in the United States Armory there, being dropped at the close of the war in accordance with an order directing the discharge of all single men. Attending night school while at the armory, he mastered book-keeping, and then secured a posi- tion as an accountant ; but this was not to his liking, and he soon relinquished it to engage in a more active occupation. For a while he carried on a publishing business in Albany, N.Y. Next, as a new venture, he engaged in the sale of the prod- ucts of L. C. Chase & Co., manufacturers of plushes, robes, and blankets, for Josiah Cum- mings, of Springfield. Subsequently he handled the Chases' goods on the road, and then in 1868 came to Boston as their representative. At that time they had, in partnership with Thomas Good-

all, just erected the Sanford Mills at Sanford, Me. After Mr. Hopewell's connection with the concern the business rapidly increased ; and in 1888 he succeeded the Chases, becoming head of the house of L. C. Chase & Co. and treasurer of San- ford Mills. Though much interested in public matters and often urged to accept political office, he took no active part in political affairs until 1887. In 1889 he was elected president of the Cambridge Republican Club, which office he held until he went abroad in 1892. In 1891 he was

JOHN HOPEWELL, Jr.

elected to the Legislature, and in the spring of 1892 was repeatedly solicited to stand as a candi- date for Congress as a representative business man ; but, owing to ill-health following a severe attack of the grip, he declined the use of his name for any public office, and, going abroad, spent a year in Europe. Politically he is an ardent Re- publican and Protectionist, and has been a direc- tor of the Home Market Club since its organiza- tion. Through his efforts in 1888 the statutes were so changed that old established houses can continue the old firm name with special partners, with the consent of retiring partners,-a much needed reform in this State. He is a director of the North National Bank of Boston, and of sev- eral other corporations. Of late years he has been

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largely engaged, in connection with his brothers Frank and Alfred, under the firm name of Hope- well Brothers, in raising Guernsey cattle on their Maple Ranch Stock Farm at Natick. They im- ported direct from Guernsey a valuable herd, carefully selected with the aid of an expert, for their butter-producing qualities ; and they have supplied some of the finest farms in the country with high-grade stock, among them that of ex- Vice-President Morton on the Hudson. Mr. Hopewell is a member of the Boston Merchants' Association (a director in 1892), of the Colonial, Cambridge, and Union clubs of Cambridge, and of the Boston Art Club. In April, 1894, his father and mother celebrated their golden wedding at his home in Cambridge, upon which occasion there were gathered at the anniversary dinner the three sons of the venerable couple, with their wives, and seven grandchildren. Mr. Hopewell was married in 1870 to Miss Sarah W. Blake, daughter of Charles and Betsey (Pease) Blake, of Springfield ; and his family now con- sists of three boys and two girls. Mrs. Hope- well's great-grandfather was in the Revolutionary war, and her grandfather in the War of 1812.

HORR, REV. GEORGE EDWIN, JR., of Boston, editor-in-chief of the Watchman, was born in Bos- ton, January 19, 1856, son of George E. and Elsie Matilda (Ellis) Horr. His father, the son of the late Luther Horr, of Wellesley, is a clergyman who has held several prominent pastorates in the Baptist Church. He was educated at the Newark (N.J.) public High School and at Brown Univer- sity, where he graduated in the class of 1876, and received his theological training at the Union Theological Seminary, New York City, 1876-77, and at the Newton Theological Institution, gradu- ating therefrom in the class of 1879. His first settlement was at Tarrytown, N.Y., as pastor of the First Baptist Church, his service here cover- ing four and a half years, from October, 1879, to April, 1884. Then he became pastor of the First Baptist Church in the Charlestown District of Boston, where he remained till the summer of 1891 (from April, 1884, to July, 1891), resigning to take the chief editorship of the Watchman. A few months later he purchased a controlling inter- est in the paper. Before assuming the editorial chair (June, 1891), he had done much work for denominational papers, both as correspondent and

as assistant editor. While pastor of the church at Tarrytown, he wrote editorially for the Chris- tian at Work, and subsequently for two years was a correspondent of the New York Examiner. He also served the Watchman as correspondent seven years, and as associate editor two and a half years. While in charge of the parish at Charles- town, in addition to his work on the Watchman, he contributed to the Baptist Quarterly and the Chicago Standard, and wrote a " History of the Baptists " and several monographs on historical and theological subjects. He has been for five

GEO. E. HORR, Jr.

years on the board of examiners of Newton The- ological Institution, and is one of its trustees. He is also a director of the Massachusetts Bap- tist Education Society. He was married March 16, 1886, to (Mrs.) Evelyn Sacchi, daughter of the late Charles Olmsted, of Tarrytown, N.Y. They have no children. Their home is at Brook- line.

HOWE, ELMER PARKER, member of the Suf- folk bar, is a native of Westborough, born Novem- ber 1, 1851, son of Archelaus M. and H. Janette (Brigham) Howe. His education was acquired in the Worcester public schools, in the Worcester Polytechnic Institute from which he graduated in

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1871, and at Yale College, graduating therefrom in the class of 1876. He studied law in Boston with Hillard, Hyde, & Dickinson, and for one

ELMER P. HOWE.

year attended lectures at the law school of Boston University. In 1878 he was admitted to the bar at Worcester. In January following he became a member of the firm of Hillard, Hyde, & Dickinson, the firm name becoming Hyde, Dickinson, & Howe, after the death of George S. Hillard early in 1879. This partnership contin- ued until 1889, when it was dissolved by mutual consent. Mr. Howe has made a specialty of patent and corporation law. He is a member of the Union, University, and Country clubs of Boston. In politics he is an Independent Re- publican. He is unmarried.

HOWLAND, WILLARD, member of the Suffolk bar, was born in Pembroke, December 3, 1852, son of Jairus and Deborah L. (Fish) Howland. He is of the original Howland family of the " May- flower" stock, descending from John Howland, settled with the earliest in Plymouth. His edu- cation was acquired in the public schools of Kingston and Woburn, the family moving to the latter place when he was a child. After leaving

school, he spent some years in active business life before beginning the study of law. When at length able to pursue legal studies, he entered the Boston University Law School, and further perfected himself by reading in the office of Josiah W. Hubbard. Admitted to the bar in November, 1878, he began active practice in Bos- ton, where he has been established since, occupy- ing from the start offices at No. 23 Court Street. In politics he is Republican, and early became prominent in his party in the State, taking in each campaign an influential part and speaking on the stump. In 1889-90 he was a member of the lower house of the Legislature for the Twenty- seventh Suffolk District, where he ranked with the leaders. During his first term he was a mem- ber of the committee on the judiciary, and the second year served again on this committee, and was chairman of the committees on street rail- ways. He introduced the first bill which became a law to allow cities and towns to manufacture and sell gas. He has occupied the office of judge advocate for the State, in the military order of Sons of Veterans, and holds official position in

WILLARD HOWLAND.

several secret and benevolent societies. He is a member also of the local clubs of Chelsea, where he resides, a vice-president of the Middlesex (po-

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litical dining) Club, and a member of the Massa- chusetts Young Men's Republican Club. He was married in 1873 to Miss Lottie A. S. Barry, of Boston. They have two children: Fred C. (born in 1876) and Lizzie A. Howland (born in 1880).

HUNT, FREEMAN, member of the Suffolk and Middlesex bars, is a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., born September 4, 1855, son of Freeman and Elizabeth T. (Parmenter) Hunt. His father was the founder and editor of Hunt's Merchants' Mag-

FREEMAN HUNT.

asine, and his mother was a daughter of the Hon. William Parmenter, of Cambridge (son of Ezra Parmenter), who represented the Cambridge Dis- trict in Congress for four terms, and sister of the Hon. W. E. Parmenter, present chief justice of the municipal court of Boston. He was edu- cated in the Cambridge public schools and at Harvard, graduating from the latter in the class of 1877. His law studies were pursued in the Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in 1881, and in the Boston office of the Hon. George S. Hale; and he was admitted to the bar in 1882. He began practice in partnership with H. Eugene Bowles, but was soon after in associa- tion with William C. Tarbell, which relation con-

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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 19

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