Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 31

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 31

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E. M. JOHNSON.

JOHNSON, EUGENE MALCOM, member of the Suffolk bar, was born in Boston, June 4, 1845, son of George L. and Sarah (Osgood) Johnson. He was educated in the public schools of Lynn and at Harvard, where he graduated in the class of 1869. His law studies were pursued in the Albany Law School, and in March, 1871, he was admitted to the bar. He began practice in Bos- ton in association with Everett C. Bumpus. This relation continued until 1885, since which time he

has been alone. engaged in general law practice. In politics he is Independent. He was married December 25, 1872, to Miss Norah J. Brown, daughter of Dexter and Jane W. (Shaw) Brown. She died on the ist of August, 1891. He has no children.

JONES, BRADFORD ELIOT, of Brockton, mer- chant. was born in North Bridgewater (now Brockton), September 22, 1840, son of Rosseter and Hannah (Marshall) Jones. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and at the North Bridgewater Academy. He entered the dry-goods store of Charles Curtis when a lad of seventeen, and has been in that business ever since. After nearly four years' experience in Mr. Curtis's store he started in the business for him- self, opening a store in Provincetown in 1864. He remained there till 1867, when he returned to North Bridgewater, and organized the house of Jones, Lovell & Sanford, buying out the business of Brett Brothers, which had been long estab- lished. This copartnership held about three years, when Mr. Sanford retired, after which the remaining partners continued the business under

BRADFORD E. JONES.

the firm name of Jones & Lovell till May, 1875. Then Mr. Jones retired, and purchased the dry-

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goods business of H. H. Packard, which he is now operating with Robert Cook, under the firm name of B. E. Jones & Co. He is also connected with local banking institutions, serving as presi- dent of the Security Co-operative Bank, vice- president and one of the investment committee of the Brockton Savings Bank, and director of the Home National Bank. In 1882 he was elected an alderman in the first city government of Brock- ton, and he also served in that board in 1890 and 1891. He was commissioned a justice of the peace by Governor Ames in 1889. Mr. Jones has uniformly been a large holder in real estate in Brockton, and a firm believer in the future pros- perity of the city. He is a member of the Paul Revere Lodge of Masons, and has been the treas- urer of the lodge since 1875, a member of Sa- tucket Royal Arch Chapter, and treasurer of the Brockton Masonic Benefit Association. He was married in Provincetown, September 21, 1862, to Miss Kate Maria Paine, daughter of Dr. Stephen Atkins and Catherine M. W. (Brackett) Paine. They have had two children: Kitty Paine and Stephen Rosseter Jones.

KELLOGG, JOHN EDWARD, of Fitchburg, edi- tor of the Sentinel, daily and weekly, is a native of Amherst, born July 2, 1845, son of Eleazer and Sally McCloud (Roberts) Kellogg. He is a lineal descendant of Joseph Kellogg, of Hadley, as early as 1662, who died there in 1707. His father, Eleazer, was son of John, who was son of Ephraim, who was son of Ephraim, who was son of Nathaniel (died in Amherst, October 30, 1750, aged eighty), who was son of Joseph. The latter had twenty children. John E. was educated in the public schools and the academy at Amherst, at Williston Seminary, Easthampton (graduated there in 1865), and at Amherst College, where he was graduated in 1869. In college he was devoted to athletics, and was catcher of the col- lege base-ball club in every game played during his four years' course. He began journalistic work while a student as correspondent and re- porter for several newspapers ; and the day follow- ing his class day, in June, 1869, he entered the office of the Springfield Republican, where he re- ceived an excellent training for his profession. Starting as "copy-holder," he soon became a regular reporter, in which capacity he continued until May, 1870, when he became assistant New

England agent in the New York Associated Press office. After an experience there of about a year and a half, he returned to the Republican office as assistant night editor, which position he retained from October, 1871, to May, 1872. The succeed- ing six months he was with the Taunton Gazette, and then in February, 1873, he purchased a half- interest in the Fitchburg Sentinel, and became the editor of the paper, in May, that year, bringing out the daily edition, which he has since con- ducted. In politics he is Republican. He has repeatedly been sought for public place, but until

J. E. KELLOGG.

1893 refused to be considered as candidate for any office, devoting all his time to his paper. That year he accepted a nomination to the Legis- lature,-the second offered, the first, which he declined, having been offered in 1885,-and served in the house of 1894. He was a member of the committee on manufactures, and was es- pecially interested in the establishment of addi- tional State normal schools. He was clerk of the Fitchburg Common Council for nine years (1880-89) and a member of the School Commit- tee for three years (1887-89). He has been a di- rector of the Fidelity Co-operative Bank of Fitch- burg since its organization. He is connected with the order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the local

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

Apollo Lodge, and is a member of the Park and Athletic clubs of Fitchburg, of the Middlesex and the Home Market clubs of Boston, and of the Republican Club of Massachusetts. He is un- married.

KEMPTON, DAVID BATCHELDER, of New Bed- ford, merchant, is a native of New Bedford, born April 25, 1818, son of David Kempton, 2d, and Joanna (Maxfield) Kempton. He is a direct de- scendant of Mannasses Kempton, one of the first settlers of the township of Dartmouth. His father was a farmer. He attended the New Bed- ford public schools until he reached the age of twelve years, at which time, his parents having died, he went to live with his father's brother, Ephraim Kempton, and to learn from him the house carpenter's trade. He remained with his uncle from that time until he attained his major- ity, after which he worked at his trade for twelve years, ten years of this time doing busi- ness on his own account. He then became an agent or managing owner of whaling ves- sels, and continued in this business until 1877, a period of more than a quarter of a century. That year he visited the countries of the Old World, travelling extensively over Europe as far East as Constantinople, and visiting the Holy Land. Previously, he was connected with the New Bedford Flour Mill as director and presi- dent until the destruction of the mill by fire, September 13, 1870. He is now president of the Pope's Island Manufacturing Corporation, a di- rector of the Citizens' National Bank, a director of the New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Com- pany, and active in other business ventures. He has served his city in various positions long and well. He was a member of the City Council in 1864-65-66, and the latter year, at the beginning of the construction of the New Bedford Water Works, was elected to the Water Board, with William W. Crapo and Warren Ladd as associate members. In this capacity he has served for about twenty-one years, and is still a member of the board. He was warden of Ward Five, New Bedford, in 1875-76-77. In 1889 and 1890 he represented the city in the Legislature. Mr. Kempton was first married, in 1842, to Miss Sarah Bates Lindsey, daughter of the late Benja- min Lindsey, senior, editor of the New Bedford Mercury, by whom he had one son, Frank H.

Kempton, now living. He married again, in 1879. Miss Susan H. Jennings, daughter of Dr. J. H. Jennings. His residence on the corner of County and North Streets, New Bedford, is on the spot which has been occupied by the Kemp- tons for a period of two hundred and forty years. The land was originally bought of the Indians, as appears by a deed dated New Plymouth, Novem- ber 29, 1652, when the whole township of Dart- mouth was sold by Wesamequen and his son, Wamsutta, to John Cook and others. The name of Mr. Kempton's ancestor, Mannasses Kempton,

DAVID B. KEMPTON.

there appears as one of the purchasers. It was bought in "34 whole parts and no more," in the language of the deed ; and parts of this property have remained in the family ever since, trans- mitted to the heirs by the division of the probate courts. There are several pieces of property in Mr. Kempton's possession which, up to this time, have never been deeded. His grandmother, Elizabeth Kempton, lived on the old place which he now occupies about eighty years, and died there in 1848, at the advanced age of ninety- seven. His grandfather, Ephraim Kempton, 2d, died January 25, 1802, aged fifty-five. They were buried at the old burial-ground near the head of the river.

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MEN N OF PROGRESS.

KIMBALL, ORRIN ABNER, of Boston, piano manufacturer, is a native of New Hampshire, born in Hanover, March 25, 1844, son of Jere-

O. A. KIMBALL.

miah and Elsie (Judkins) Kimball. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Hanover. At seventeen he enlisted - October 10, 1861-in Company B, Sixth Vermont Volunteers, and served three years in the old Vermont Brigade. He began business life in his native town, in the furniture trade, and from 1864 to 1866 was of the firm of Nichols & Kimball. Leaving this busi- ness the latter year, he went to Brattleboro, Vt., to work for the Estey Organ Company. From Brattleboro he came to Boston in 1872, and en- gaged with the Emerson Piano Company. Soon after he was placed in full charge of the finishing department of the works, and this position he held until the purchase of the plant in :879 by the present Emerson Piano Company, which con- sists of himself, P. H. Powers, and Joseph Gramer. Since the reorganization in 1879 he has held the position of treasurer and general super- intendent of the factory, purchasing all the mate- rials, besides doing much of the travelling, estab- lishing, and looking after the agents, etc., of the company. He is thoroughly familiar with all the details of piano-making ; and during his connec-

tion with the Emerson works their output has steadily increased. In 1891 the present factory, on the corner of Harrison Avenue and Waltham Street, covering twenty-three thousand square feet, and rising six and seven stories, was erected, Mr. Kimball having full charge of the building and equipping of the entire plant, which is one of the finest and most thoroughly equipped in the world. It has a capacity of about one hundred and fifty pianos a week. In politics Mr. Kimball is a steadfast Republican. He was married May 11, 1864, to Miss Helen M. Butler, of Brattleboro, Vt. They have had two children : William S. (aged twenty-two years), Mabel A. Kimball (aged twenty), both living. Mr. Kimball has a pretty city residence at No. 476 Warren Street, Boston, and a farm at North Hinsdale, N.H., where his family spend their summers.

KNOWLES, MORRIS, of Lawrence, builder of famous Lawrence mills, was born in New Hamp- shire, in the town of Northwood, February 6, 1810, son of Morris and Polly (Caverly) Knowles.

MORRIS KNOWLES.

He is of English ancestry on both sides. His maternal grandfather and grandmother came to North Hill, now North Hampton, N.H., and

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from there went to Northwood, where his mother was born. His father was also a native of North- wood. Both spent their lives in Northwood, the father dying in 1834, at the age of fifty-five, and the mother in 1859, at the age of seventy-nine years. His school training was limited to the district school. At the age of seventeen he was apprenticed to learn the carpenter's trade, and he served until he attained his majority. Then, in April, 1831, he came to Lowell, Mass., where he engaged himself to Joseph M. Dodge, who had just begun the building of the Tremont and Suf- folk Mills. In a few years he became foreman, and in 1843 a partner in the business. This as- sociation continued until 1847, when, in April, he went to the " New City," so called, now the city of Lawrence, under an engagement with Charles S. Storrow, then of the Essex Company, to build the Atlantic Mills and Machine Shop, now the Everett Mills, by contract. These buildings were finished in 1849, and in 1850 he built No. 3 Mill for the Atlantic Company. In 1852 he took the contract to build the Pacific Mills and Print Works and other buildings connected with them. These were completed in 1854. From that time till 1870 he was engaged in building other mills in Lawrence, churches, and various other build- ings, and in contracting. In 1870 he was elected one of the three commissioners to build the Law- rence Water Works for a term of three years, and during that period devoted much time to this work. In 1875 he began building mills for the Arlington Company. He continued in business until 1885. when he retired with a competence and an honorable record. He has spent most of his time since in travelling. Mr. Knowles has served his city in the State Legislature, and in the municipal government of Lawrence, and has long been counted among its influential citizens. He was a member of the House of Representa- tives in 1850-51, and of the Lawrence Board of Aldermen in 1861 and 1863. In politics he is, and always has been since the formation of the party, a Republican. He was married in January, 1836, at Pittsfield, N. H., to Miss Sarah Green. They have had four children: Emily A. (now Mrs. (. W. Hanson), Charles E .. George A., and Clara B. Knowles (now Mrs. C. H. Smith).

KNOWLTON, DANIEL STIMSON, president of the Boston Times Company, is a native of Maine,

born in Alfred, York County. September 19, 1861. son of George Henry and Mary Abby ( Pilsbury) Knowlton. He is of Scotch-English descent. His ancestors on the paternal side were early shipmasters at Portsmouth, N.H., and ancestors on his mother's side figured in the Revolution. His father was editor of the Portland Press in IS70-71. His early education was acquired in Biddeford, Me., schools, where he graduated from the High School in 1878. He was fitted for col- lege at Phillips ( Andover) Academy in the class of 1879 ; and his collegiate training was at Yale, where he graduated in the class of 1883. He

D. S. KNOWLTON.

was engaged in fugitive newspaper work while a student in college, and soon after graduation ob- tained employment on the New Haven Register, where he remained about a year (1884-85), doing general editorial and "desk " work. In June, 1885. he came to Boston, and took charge of the Sunday Times, having purchased the property. Three years later the Times was made a corpora- tion under Massachusetts laws, with Mr. Knowl- ton as president ; and he has continued since as the head of the " Boston Times Company," as well as editor and manager of the paper. In March, 1894, he became private secretary to the Hon. Winslow Warren, collector of the port of Boston,

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resigning the editorship of the Times, but retaining the controlling interest in the property. He is a member of the Psi Upsilon college fraternity, of the Boston Press Club (at one time its treasurer), and of the Newspaper Club. He is also con- nected with the Masonic order, being a member of St. Paul's Royal Arch Chapter, Boston. In politics he is Independent. Mr. Knowlton was married January 19, 1887, to Miss Alice Maria Joyce, of New Haven, Conn. They have had three children : George Kempton (born October 21, 1887, died April 2, 1888), Joyce (born Feb- ruary 19, 1889), and Hugh Knowlton (born July 27, 1893). He resides in Brookline.

LOWE, ARTHUR HOUGHTON, of Fitchburg, manufacturer, is a native of New Hampshire, born in Rindge, August 20, 1853, son of John and Sarah (Mead) Lowe. He is of English ancestry, descendant on the paternal side of a family early settled in Essex County, Mass. He was edu- cated in the common schools of Fitchburg, and trained for active life by hard work in helping his father support a family of seventeen children, all of whom are living to-day. At the age of twenty he became a partner of the firm of Lowe Brothers in the provision business, having previously had some experience in trade with his father, who car- ried on a wholesale business of the same kind. Six years later, in 1879, in conjunction with John Parkhill and Thomas R. B. Dole, he established the Parkhill Manufacturing Company, of which he has since been manager and treasurer. In 1885 he organized the Cleghorn Mills Company, acting as its treasurer till 1889, when it was absorbed with the Fitchburg Woollen Mill Company by the Parkhill Manufacturing Company, and sub- sequently became interested in the Grant Yarn Mills, the Fitchburg Steam Engine Company, and the Gas and Electric Light Company. The estab- lishment and rapid development of his mills, the Parkhill alone early increasing from thirty looms at the start to many hundreds, and now the third largest of its kind in the country, added much to the prosperity of the city; and, together with the location of the car shops of the Fitchburg Rail- road, the Orswell Mills, and the Mitchell Manufac- turing Company here, which Mr. Lowe was largely instrumental in securing, were the chief causes of its marked growth between the years 1880 and 1893. Mr. Lowe has also numerous other inter-

ests in Fitchburg and elsewhere, among them being the Champion Card and Paper Company of Pepperell, the Fitchburg and Leominster Street

ARTHUR H. LOWE.

Railway Company, and the Fitchburg National Bank. Of all of these corporations he is a di- rector, and he is a trustee of the Fitchburg Sav- ings Bank. He has been prominent and influen- tial in municipal affairs for many years, serving as an alderman in 1888, and as mayor in 1893, a year of great progress and activity. For the two years immediately preceding his election to the mayoralty, the period during which the growth of the city was most rapid, he was president of the Board of Trade. His administration as mayor was marked by the establishment of a new high school, two new fire stations, the building of five miles of sewers, the building of the Clarendon Btreet school-house, the abolition of railroad cross- ing at River Street, one of the main thorough- fares, the purchase of a site for a police station, and the purchase of about four hundred and fifty acres of land (known as the Nichols farm) for the Burbank Hospital site. He declined a re-election for a second term on account of the pressure of his private business. In politics Mr. Lowe is an active Republican, and has been a delegate to many conventions. He is a member and director

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of the Park Club, and member of the Fitchburg Athletic Club. He was married December 11. 1878, to Miss Annie E. Parkhill. They have three children : Russell B., Margaret. and Rachel P. Lowe.

MONK, HIRAM ALEXANDER, of Campello, manufacturer, was born in Stoughton, July 16, 1829, son of Nathan and Sally (Linfield) Monk. He descends on both paternal and maternal sides from Puritan stock. His father, Nathan Monk, was the son of Jacob and Milly (Randall) Monk, and was born in Stoughton, April 6, 1797. Jacob Monk was the son of George and Sarah (Hixon) Monk, born March 9, 1773. George Monk was the son of Elias and Susanna (Blackman) Monk, born in Stoughton, February 10, 1734. The date of the birth of Elias Monk is not known, but he was taxed in Roxbury in 1714. He was doubtless the son of Elias Monk, who enlisted as one of the quota of Dorchester for the Canada war in 1690, and who was contemporary with George Monk who was taxed in Boston in 1674, and kept the " Blue Anchor Tavern " near where the Transcript

HIRAM A. MONK.

Building now stands. George Monk came from Essex County, England, as indicated by his will in the probate office, Suffolk County. Hiram A.

Monk, the subject of this sketch, was educated in the public schools, and at the age of sixteen was actively at work in a boot and shoe shop, to learn the trade. Early made a foreman. he was engaged in this capacity for upwards of thirty years, about two-thirds of this period in shoe-shops in Stoughton, and the remainder in Broekton, and then (in 1882) went into business for himself as a manufacturer of shoe heels, in which he has been most successful. During the latter part of the Civil War, from February, 1864, to July, 1865. he served in the Fifty-eighth Regiment, Massachu- setts Volunteers. He was for six years connected with the Brockton city council, member of the Common Council three terms (1882-83-84), and an alderman three terms (1885-86-87); and was four years in the State Legislature, a member of the lower house in 1890-91, and a senator in 1893-94, in both branches serving on important committees. He has also been one of the sewer- age commissioners of Brockton for three years. He belongs to a number of fraternal organiza- tions, and has held official position in nearly all of them. He was master of the St. George Lodge of Masons, Brockton, in 1879-So, is now commander in Council No. 16 American Legion of Honor, president of the Patriotic Order Sons of America, Brockton, and member of the order of Odd Fel- lows, the Grand Army of the Republic, the Good Templars, and the Brockton Educational League (an American order). He was married April 8, 1853, in Stoughton, to Miss Lucinda F. Cole. Their children are : Mary L., Charles H., Jacob F., John H., Cora E., Sarah A., Nathan A., George A., Hattie A., and Wesley E. Monk.

MORRISON, THOMAS JEFFERSON, member of the Suffolk bar, is a native of Connecticut, born in Enfield, March 15, 1841, son of John and Susan C. (Fowler) Morrison, of Manchester, N.H .; and his home was in Manchester until 1874, when he established himself in practice at Boston. He was educated in the Manchester schools, and read law in the office of Judge Joseph W. Fellows of that city. Subsequently admitted to the bar of Hillsborough County at Amherst, N.H., he began the practice of his profession at Manchester. Soon after he was admitted to the United States Distriet and Circuit Court of New Hampshire, and later to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, the United States District Court,

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and Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts. His practice is a general one in all the courts, State and Federal, both at common law and in

THOMAS J. MORRISON.

admiralty ; and he has an extensive clientage. He was married in Manchester to Miss Helen E. Taylor, of that city. They have no children. His home is in Chelsea.

MUNVAN, JONATHAN, of Boston, president of the Goodyear Shoe Machinery Company, is a native of Connecticut, born in Thompson, Wind- ham County, March 4, 1823, son of Ezra and Sarah (Knap) Munyan. He is a descendant of Edward Munyan, who, with his wife and family of sons and daughters, emigrated from Leicester- shire, England, to Salem, Mass., in 1721, and, after remaining there a short time, moved up across the country to Connecticut, where he took up a section of land located on the five-mile river in the town now called Thompson, and spent his life as a farmer. Jonathan Munyan was reared on a farm, and educated in the common schools. At the age of twelve years he left home, and was apprenticed to learn the shoemaker's trade. He worked at this trade as a journeyman till he was twenty-three years old, and then, in 1847, began to manufacture boots and shoes in a small way on

his own account at Worcester. In 1850 he gave up business, and spent 1851 and 1852 in Califor- nia. Returning to Worcester in 1853 he re-engaged in manufacturing boots and shoes there. In 1855 he moved his business to Milwaukee, Wis., and was there engaged in the manufacturing, job- bing, and retailing trade till 1862. He then again returned to Worcester, and entered into the manufacture of shoes on joint account with C. I). and W. B. Bigelow, of New York. In 1863 the firm built a large factory in Worcester, into which his joint business went ; and in 1866 the corpora- tion known as the Bay State Shoe & Leather Company was formed from this business. Mr. Munyan was one of the original stockholders, and from its organization till 1890 spent his time in a great measure in the management and interest of the company as its agent at the Worcester fac- tory, and as a director and vice-president. He was also a stockholder and director in the Com- monwealth Boot & Shoe Company, established at Whitman, from its organization till 1892. He began to use the Goodyear sewing-machines at the Worcester factory in 1879. They were at that time far from perfected, but he became satis- fied in his own mind that they could be so im- proved that boots and shoes in large quantities would be made by that process in the near future ; and the Bay State Company was the first to make a success of them. In 1882 he became a stock- holder and a director in the Goodyear Company, then the Goodyear & McKay Sewing Machine Company, afterwards changed to the present name of the Goodyear Shoe Machinery Company ; and in 1888 was chosen to the office of president, which he still holds. During his connection with this company it has made remarkable progress, its machines having been brought to a high degree of perfection, and now stands at the head of the shoe machinery business in the country. In

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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 31

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