Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 37

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 37

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).

THEODORE P. WILSON.

public meetings, and who has had a large experi- ence in newspaper work. They have one child : Theodore Price Wilson, Jr.

PART IV.

ADAMS, WILLIAM FREDERICK, of Springfield, of the "Old Corner Bookstore," was born in Springfield, March 13, 1848, son of David A. and Harriet (Swift) Adams. He is a descendant of Governor William Bradford, eighth in direct line.

W. F. ADAMS.

He was educated in the Springfield public schools. His business career was begun in the Second Na- tional Bank of Springfield, with which he was con- nected for five years. Subsequently he entered the " Old Corner Bookstore," -one of the land- marks of Springfield, dating from 1834, -- and became a partner of James L. Whitney, who had been for many years connected with the business. under the firm name of Whitney & Adams. In July, 1887, the business was incorporated under the title of the W. F. Adams Company, with Mr. Adams as president and treasurer, and has so con-

tinued since. Mr. Adams has served three terms in the Springfield City Council (1891-93). In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of the local Winthrop and Nyasset clubs. He was married May 30, 1888, to Miss E. Jennie Strong, of Springfield, and has two children : Dorothy S. and William Bradford Adams.

AKARMAN, JOHN NELSON, of Worcester, gen- eral manager of the Consolidated Street Railway, is a native of Brooklyn, N. Y., born March 4, 1854. lle was educated in the public schools of Bergen, N.J., and of Brooklyn, graduating from the supple- mentary grade of Public School No. 26, Brooklyn, in the summer of 1871. After leaving school. he entered the office of George H. Day, civil engineer and surveyor, and assisted in the building of the large piers on the Brooklyn side of the East River adjoining Fulton Ferry. In the summer of 1872 he moved to Boston, where he began street rail- roading in the service of the South Boston Street Railroad Company. Here he worked till the spring of 1876, when he entered the employ of the Middlesex Railway Company. He remained with the latter company for seven years, filling the sub- ordinate positions of starter, supervisor, and assist- ant superintendent under John H. Studley, the veteran Boston street railroad superintendent, to whose guidance he attributes whatever success he has attained in the business. In April, 1883, he became superintendent of the Charles River Street Railroad, a new line then opened in Cambridge, and continued in this position till the purchase of the road by the Cambridge Railroad Company on the first of July. 1886. Then he went to Worces- ter, and served as superintendent of the Worcester Horse Railroad and the Citizens' Street Railway until the consolidation of the two roads, when he was elected superintendent of the consolidated company. In the spring of 1888 he resigned to build the Biddeford & Saco Railroad, running from

276

MEN OF PROGRESS.

Biddeford to Old Orchard Beach, Me., in which enterprise he was associated with Charles B. Pratt, the president, and H. S. Seeley, the treasurer, of

JNO. N. AKARMAN.

the Worcester Consolidated Street Railway Com- pany. On the first of January, 1889, he sold out his interest in the Biddeford road, and on the first of June following became general manager of the Elizabeth & Newark Railroad, N.J. Subsequently he brought about the consolidation of that road with the Essex and Irvington roads, under the cor- porate title of the Newark Passenger Street Rail- way Company, at the same time becoming the general superintendent of the united lines. In 1892 he obtained an option on the full amount of the capital stock of the Worcester Consolidated Company (7,000 shares), which he disposed of to a syndicate ; and on the first of December, that year, when the purchase was completed, he re- turned to Worcester, and as superintendent and general manager proceeded at once rapidly to de- velop the property. Under his supervision the road was electrically equipped throughout, and its value greatly enhanced. Mr. Akarman is a thirty- second degree Mason, a member of the Montacute Lodge, Eureka Chapter, Hiram Council, and the Worcester County Commandery of Worcester, and of the Massachusetts Consistory and the Aleppo

Shrine of Boston. He belongs also to the Worces- ter and Commonwealth clubs of Worcester, the Washington Association of New Jersey, and the Megantic Fish and Game Corporation of Maine. During his residence in New Jersey he was fish warden of Essex County.

ALLEN, CHARLES ALBERT, of Worcester, civil engineer, city engineer for fifteen years, is a na- tive of Worcester, born January 27, 1852, son of Albert S. and Eliza A. (Cole) Allen. He is of the Sturbridge branch of the Allen family. His grandfather Allen moved from that town to Worcester about the year 1834, and until railroads entered Worcester was part owner of and oper- ated the stage lines centring there. He was edu- cated in the Worcester public schools, and at the Worcester Academy, graduating in 1869. He began preparation for his profession immediately after graduation, and in 1870 was engaged on preliminary surveys for the Massachusetts Central Railroad. From 1871 to 1873 he was assistant engineer of the Worcester & Nashua Railroad

CHARLES A. ALLEN.

Company ; from 1873 to 1875 chief engineer, and also engineer of the Worcester Viaduct then being constructed ; in 1875-76-77 was engaged in pri-

277

MEN OF PROGRESS.

vate engineering practice, and in contracting, as a member of the firm of Allen & Chase, during this period constructing the foundations and out- side walls of the new Worcester Lunatic Hospital, "Section A" of the Boston Water Works (Sud- bury supply), the Southbridge street railroad bridge, and various other engineering works of more or less importance ; from 1878 to November, 1892, was city engineer, finally resigning this posi- tion in order to give his entire attention to his growing private business ; and since has been engaged in the construction of water-works, sew- ers, and dams in various sections of New England. During his term of service as city engineer he constructed a large part of the sewerage system of Worcester, and the additional (Holden) water supply. In 1883 he was sent to Europe by the city to study the question of sewerage disposal ; and, as the result of his investigations, he constructed the Worcester sewerage disposal plant, one of the largest and most successful chemical disposal plants in the world. In late years he has served on many important commissions appointed by the courts. Mr. Allen is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers, and of the Worcester County Society of Civil Engineers, also of the Worcester Club, and of several Masonic orders. In politics he is a Republican ; in religion, an Episcopalian, junior warden of St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Worcester. He was married April 29, 1875, to Miss Grace T. Chase. They have four children living : Robert C., Chester S., Mary H., and Grace W. Allen.

ALLEN, ORRIN PEER, of Palmer, pharmacist, was born in Wallingford, Vt., September 30, IS33. He is descended in the sixth generation from the emigrant Edward Allen, who came from London about 1690, and settled on the island of Nan- tucket, through Nathaniel", Joseph3, Robert', and Robert3. His mother, Eliza Paine (Doolittle) Allen, claims her descent from Abraham Doolittle, son of Sir Archibald Clark (Laird of Doolittle, County Midlothian, Scotland, traced to Sir Alamus Clark, of Comrie Castle, County Perth, Scotland, 1349, and assistant secretary to James I., who came to this country, probably from London, about 1638, and settled in New Haven, Conn., where he was a leading citizen), through John2, Rev. Benjamin", Amzi', and Roswell. He numbers among his ancestors many of the worthy names

of early New England, notably those of John Howland and John Tilley, of " Mayflower " fame, Coffin. Chipman, Cady, Cook, Burt, Bart-

ORRIN P. ALLEN.

lett, Barnard, Gardner, Knapp, Lee, Philbrick, Skiff, Strong, Todd, Winler, and Westwood, ser- eral of whom deserved well of their country by their service in the Colonial and Revolutionary wars. Mr. Allen was educated at Chester Acad- emy, Vt., where he held a high position as a stu- dent. He taught school at intervals to pay his way, and on the completion of the course was elected superintendent of schools in Vernon, Vt., which office he held until he accepted the position of a teacher in the Taanach Institute, Hacken- sack, N.J. He came to Palmer October 5, 1859. where he established a pharmacy, which he still continues with success. When a child, he became interested in literary pursuits which he has never relinquished, and has, by extensive study, fitted himself for a ready writer in many fields of effort. He began writing for the press in early life, and has been a frequent contributor to various publi- cations ever since. He has recently become quite a student of genealogy, to which he has devoted much research, having published the genealogies of the Lee and Doolittle families, and nearly com- pleted the history of the branch of the Allen

278

MEN OF PROGRESS.

family to which he belongs, including that of Gen- eral Ethan Allen. He has also the Cady and Scott families well under way. He is a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society of Boston, of the Potumtuck Memorial Association of Deerfield, and local secretary of the C'on- necticut Valley Historical Society of Springfield. For eighteen years he has been secretary and treasurer of the Eastern Hampden Agricultural Society. He was for a long period a trustee of the Palmer Savings Bank ; was one of the foun- ders of the Young Men's Library Association of Palmer, of which he was for many years a trustee and the librarian ; was the prime mover in the matter of preparing a history of the town of Palmer, and chairman of the committee which had the matter in charge, until its completion in 1889. He is a Freemason, belonging to several of the Masonic bodies of Palmer. As a member of the Second Congregational Church, he has held the office of superintendent of the Sunday-school, and has been for years clerk of both the church and parish. He is also an active member of the Quaboag Literary Society, which was organized in 1893. Mr. Allen was married June 14, 1863. to Miss Lucinda E. Scott, of Vernon, Vt., a de- scendant of Revolutionary ancestors. Their chil- dren are: Walter Scott, who was educated at Mitchell's Boys' School of Billerica ; Julia A. and Lily M. Allen, who were both educated at the State Normal School at Westfield.

BALDWIN, JOHN STANTON, of Worcester, manager of the Spy, is a native of Connecticut. born in New Haven, January 6, 1834, son of John D. and Lemira (Hathaway) Baldwin. His father was an anti-slavery pioneer, some time editor of a free-soil paper in Hartford, Conn., in the late fifties editor of the Daily Commonwealth in Bos- ton, also an anti-slavery paper, and from 1859 till his death, in 1883, editor of the Worcester Spr: and from 1863 to 1869 representative of the Worcester district in Congress. John S. was edu- cated in the public schools of North Killingly, North Branford, and Hartford, Conn., and was fitted for Yale College. Unable however, to enter college, the cost of the course being beyond his means, he became a student in the State Normal School, where he was prepared for the profession of a teacher. He graduated with honors, and ac- cepted an offer to take charge of a large school ; but

an urgent call to take the direction of the business department of the Boston Daily Commonwealth, which his father was then editing, caused him to cancel this engagement. He was already a printer, having learned the trade in Hartford while attending school. From that time he has been continuously engaged in newspaper work. From Boston he would have gone to Minneapolis, Minn., as proprietor of a weekly paper there, but for his father's desire to have him remain in business with him. Accordingly, the Worcester Spy was pur- chased; and in March, 1858, they removed to Worcester, and began the publication of that his-

JOHN S. BALDWIN.

toric journal, under the firm name of John D. Bald- win & Co., the firm including his brother Charles C. This association held till the father's death in 1883, soon after which the business was incorpo- rated under the laws of Massachusetts as the Spy Publishing Company, with John S. Baldwin as president and treasurer. The Spr is one of the oldest newspapers in the country, started in Bos- ton in 1770 by Isaiah Thomas as the organ of the Patriots, and hurriedly moved to Worcester in 1775, on the eve of the battle of Lexington, where it has since remained. The original title of the Massachusetts Spy is still retained in the weekly issue of the present day. When the Baldwins

279

MEN OF PROGRESS.

purchased the property, the daily issue had been published fourteen years, having been started in 1845. Under their conduct it has been a strong. dignified, and influential sheet. Its change to a quarto form was made in 1888 (July 16), at which time the Sunday issue was begun. Mr. Baldwin served in the Civil War as captain, commissioned by Governor Andrew, of a company of infantry which he raised for the Fifty-first Regiment Massa- chusetts Volunteers. His first service was in the Eighteenth Corps, and he participated in all its marches and battles in North Carolina. After- ward he served with the Army of the Potomac. In politics he is a Republican. He has been a member of the Common Council and of the School Board of Worcester, and represented Worcester two terms in the lower house of the Legislature ( 1870-71), where he served on the com- mittees on education and on finance. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, the Society of the Army of the Potomac, the Military Order of the Loyal Legion : and is a member of the Massachusetts Club, Boston, and of the Worces- ter Club, and the Quinsigamond Boat Club of Worcester. He was married October 19, 1863, to Miss Emily Brown, of Worcester. They have six children : Eleanor, Robert S., Alice H., John 1)., Henry B., and Emily C. Baldwin.

BASSETT, JOSEPH MASSA, of Worcester, manu- facturer, is a native of Vermont, born in the farming town of Eden. August 31, 1834. eldest son of George and Achsa A. (Adams) Bassett. His great-grandfather, Samuel Bassett (born 1754). was a volunteer soldier of the Revolution, wounded by a musket-shot in the battle of Bunker Hill. His grandfather, Massa Bassett, was a native of Keene. N.H. (born January 24, 1783): and his paternal grandmother, Catharine Bassett. daughter of Solomon and Ruth Kingsbury, was a native of Walpole, Mass., (born October 20, 1783). They were among the earliest settlers of Eden, where they lived afterward to the end of life. His mater- nal grandparents were about the same age of Massa and Catharine Bassett, and, it is believed. also emi- grated to Vermont in the early settlement of the northern part of that State. Joseph M. was reared on the farm, early taking his share of the farm-work, attending the district school twelve weeks each winter. At the age of sixteen he came to Worces- ter to make a start in business life. He found

employment in the manufactory then known as Court Mills ; but after about six months here he was obliged, by failing health, to return to the farm. A few months later, having recovered his strength, he went to work in a country store, where he spent two years full of experience: and in March, 1854, he returned to Worcester to remain permanently. For a year he was employed in a lumber-yard there. Then he became book-keeper and business assistant for the firm of Willard, Williams, & Co., manufacturers of woollen machin- ery : and after service with this firm and its suc- cessors, F. Willard & Co., and Bickford &

J. M. BASSETT.

Lombard, for a period of eight years, he entered the firm of E. C. Cleveland & Co., also engaged in the manufacture of woollen machinery, as a partner. This association continued for four years, when he withdrew, and forming a partner- nership with W. D. Hobbs, under the firm name of Bassett & Hobbs, entered the wool business. A year later he returned to his old business, form- ing a new partnership with Mr. Cleveland, under the name of Cleveland & Bassett. The venture. however, was not prosperous, the firm meeting with losses and difficulties ; and in about two years it was dissolved through failure. Subsequently, on the first of July, 1870, joining R. A. M. Johnson.

280

MEN OF PROGRESS.

who had been for some time manufacturing hand spinning-machines called jacks, he formed the firm of Johnson & Bassett for the development and manufacture of automatic machinery for wool spinning, in which he has since been profitably concerned. The firm first introduced self-operat- ing heads for jacks, and a few years later put on the market the self-operating woollen mule, adding from time to time valuable improvements in the mechanism of both machines. Upon the death of Mr. Johnson in March, 1880, Mr. Bassett pur- chased the interest of the former from the admin- istrators of his estate, and continued the business alone until the first of January, 1892, when he admitted his son, George M. Bassett, to partner- ship, retaining throughout the original firm name of Johnson & Bassett, without change. The present building, occupying the corner of Foster and Bridge Streets, was built expressly for the business in 1886, and was first occupied in September that year. Mr. Bassett has been long a member of the National Association of Wool Manufacturers, and of the Home Market Club since its organiza- tion. He belongs also to the Commonwealth Club of Worcester. In politics he is an earnest Republican for the reasons that the principles and economic policy of that party have been more in accord with his own views than those of any other party. He is in no sense a politician ; and with the exception of six years' service on the Worces- ter School Board, which he gave in the interest of popular education, he has held no public place, devoting his time and energies chiefly to his busi- ness. He has been an extensive traveller, in his own country and abroad, visiting nearly all the leading American cities, journeying in Mexico and in the principal European countries. Mr. Bassett was married April 16, 1857, to Miss Elizabeth Kennan, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Kennan, born June 8, 1833, in Hyde Park, Vt. They have had five children, three sons and two daughters, of whom only two are now living : George M. (now associated with Mr. Bassett in business, born in Worcester, November 3. 1864) and Arthur J. Bassett (musician, born in Worcester, June 29, 1868).

BATES, EDWARD CRAIG, of Westborough, jus- tice of the First District Court of Eastern Worces- ter, is a native of Westborough, born March 6, 1866, son of Lucius R. and Martha (Matthews) Bates. His early education was acquired in the

public schools of Westborough. After graduating from the High School in 1883, he fitted for college at Phillips ( Exeter) Academy, spending two years there, entered Harvard, and graduated in the class of 1889. He prepared for his profession at the Boston University Law School, and was admitted to the bar in 1891. Opening his office in West- borough the first of November that year, he prac- tised there exclusively until 1894, when in Feb- ruary he established an office in Boston also. He was appointed to his present position of justice of the First District Court of Eastern Worcester in 1890. While pursuing his profession, he has given

EDWARD C. BATES.

some attention also to historical matters. In con- nection with the Rev. Heman P. DeForest, he wrote the " History of Westborough," published by the town in 1891 ; and he was the author of the paper on " Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin " in the New England Magazine of May, 1890. He is a trustee of the Westborough Public Library ; has been president of the Village Improvement Society since April, 1892 ; and is connected with various social, literary, and business clubs. Judge Bates was married January 21, 1892, to Miss Grace Belknap Winch, daughter of the late Hon. Calvin M. Winch, of Boston. They have one child : Edward Munroe Bates, born February 23, 1894.

281

MEN OF PROGRESS.

BEEBE, HENRY JARED, of Springfield, manu- facturer, is a native of Monson, born July 3, 1843. son of Jared and Mary (Stacy) Beebe. He was

HENRY J. BEEBE.

educated in the public schools and at Wilbraham Academy. After graduating from the academy, he was for two years in mercantile business as a clerk, first in Holyoke, and later in Chicopee. In 1861 he entered the office of his father, and there remained three years. The next three years he was in the dry-goods commission house of O. H. Sampson & Co., New York City. Then, having been elected treasurer of the Springfield Plate Company, he removed to Springfield, where he spent two years. At the end of that time, in 1870, he joined his father in the purchase of the woollen mill at North Monson, and engaged in its conduct under the firm name of J. Beebe & Son. In 1876 his father died, and the same year he bought the woollen mill of Webber & Beebe in Holyoke. The two mills were run together till 1880, when the Monson mill was sold ; and since that time the Holyoke mill has been continued under the firm name of Beebe, Webber, & Co., owned entirely by Mr. Beebe and his brother-in-law, J. S. Webber. Mr. Beebe is interested in numerous other man- ufacturing concerns. After his father's death in 1876 he was elected a director of the Farr

Alpaca Company of Holyoke : and he is now a director of the Beebe & Holbrook Paper Company of Holyoke, the Indian Orchard Company of Springfield, and the United Electric Light Com- pany of Springfield ; and a trustee of the National Automatic Weighing Machine Company of New York. He is also a director of the First National Bank of Springfield. In politics he is a steadfast Republican. He has served two years (1880-81) in the Springfield city government. He is a mem- ber of the Nyasset and the Winthrop clubs of Springfield. He has been twice married, first, Oc- tober 20, 1864, to Miss Othalia Vaughan, by whom were three children : Henry J., Jr., Arthur V., and Albert A. Beebe ; and second, May 20, 18So, to Mrs. Kate E. Glover, daughter of John Olmsted, of Springfield.

BENT, CHARLES MCILVAINE, of Worcester, banker, was born in New Bedford, October 5, 1835, son of Nathaniel Tucker and Catherine Eliza Donaldson ( Metcalf) Bent. He was edu- cated in the common schools. He has been in the banking business from the beginning of his active

CHARLES M BENT.

life. In the summer of 1852 he entered the Worcester Bank, then the principal bank in the city, as boy. Here he came under the guidance

282

MEN OF PROGRESS.

and direction of William Cross, an accomplished banker, then cashier and holding the foremost position among financiers of the city, and was thoroughly fitted for the banking business. In December, 1864, he was elected treasurer of the People's Savings Bank, then recently incorporated, which has now become one of the large and suc- cessful financial institutions of the city. This office he still holds, being its only treasurer. Mr. Bent has been for many years prominent in musi- cal matters in Worcester, sometime occupying the presidency of the Worcester Choral Union, one of the first board of directors of the Worcester County Musical Association, elected when it was incorpo- rated, and now its vice-president. In politics he has always been a consistent Republican. In re- ligion he is an Episcopalian, and is identified with different societies of the Church in this diocese. For upwards of thirty years he has held different offices in All Saints' Church, Worcester, and is at present (1894) warden. Among other positions which he holds is that of president of the Worces- ter Homeopathic Hospital and Dispensary Asso- ciation. Mr. Bent was married October 10, 1867, to Miss Helen Maria Kennedy, daughter of James L. and Helen Maria (Clark) Kennedy. They have had two children : Robert Metcalf (died in infancy) and Catherine Metcalf Bent.

BILL, GURDON, of Springfield, a leading busi- ness man and prominent citizen for forty years past, was born in Groton, Conn., in that part now Ledyard, June 7, 1827, son of Gurdon and Lucy (Yerrington ) Bill. His ancestry dates definitely from the early Puritan emigration from England in the first half of the seventeenth century, the Bills who came over about 1635 and landed at Boston being of a numerous family of Norman origin. In this country the family has had many representatives in places of trust, and been promi- nent in the law, the ministry, and other profes- sions,-a typical New England family. His mother's family also dates from the beginnings of New England. His education was that of the common schools of his native town. In his boy- hood he worked upon his father's farm, and at eighteen years of age "bought his time " of his father at $12 a month until he was twenty-one, and went out into what was then the Far West, canvass- ing for the subscription publications of Thomas Cowperthwait & Co., in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana,

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 37

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