Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 40

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 40

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STEPHEN C. EARLE.

He has been senior warden of Saint John's Church, Worcester, since 1889, was junior warden from 1887 to 1889, and vestryman from 1884 to

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1887 ; and vestryman in All Saints' Church from 1879 to 1885. He has also been on the board of directors of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation since 1889. Other organizations to which he belongs are the Episcopal Church Club, the Quinsigamond Boat Club, the Hancock Club, and the Art Society, all of Worcester; and the Grand Army of the Republic. He was married October 19, 1869, to Miss Mary L. Brown, of Worcester, who is descended from the first white child born in Worcester. Their children are: Charles B. (born July 18, 1871, graduated at Harvard Col- lege 1894), Ralph (born May 3, 1874, now a cadet in the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis), Richard B. (born May 29, 1876, now a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute), Ruth S. (born December 17, 1882), and Edward Earle (born November 27, 1889).

ELLIS, RALPH WATERBURY, of Springfield, member of the Hampden bar, was born in South Hadley Falls, November 25, 1856, son of Theo- dore W. and Maria Louise (Van Boskerck) Ellis. He is of Puritan stock on one side, and of Dutch on the other, his mother being a lineal descendant of Anneke Jans, famous as the grantor of lands occupied by Trinity Church in New York City, and domiciled in this country before any Mayflower matrons stepped upon Plymouth Rock. His father was an active business man, having for many years the management of the Glasgow Mills at South Hadley Falls. He was educated in the common schools of his native town, in the High School of Springfield, the family moving to that city in 1871, and at Harvard College, grad- uating in the class of 1879. He was valedic- torian of his class in the High School in 1875, and graduated eleventh in his college class. When in college, he was prominent in indoor athletics, taking the horizontal bar cup one year ; and was secretary of the Pi Eta Society. As a boy, spending some time in his father's office, he had familiarized himself with business methods and management ; but upon graduation from col- lege he proceeded to prepare for professional life. He entered the law office of the Hon. M. P. Knowlton at Springfield, and took the two years' course at the Harvard Law School, and, being admitted to the Hampden County bar on Novem- ber 17, 1881, at once began active practice, with office in Springfield. He has gradually narrowed

his law business down to conveyancing, examina- tion of titles to real estate, and probate practice ; and it is believed that he now (1894) has the

RALPH W. ELLIS.

largest conveyancing practice of any single lawyer in Western Massachusetts. He is also connected with numerous corporations : a director of the Holyoke Card and Paper Company, of other manufacturing companies, and of the Springfield National Bank ; and a trustee of the Springfield Five Cents Savings Bank. In 1893 he was a representative for the Sixth Hampden District in the General Court, where he served on the committees on insurance and on public service. He is a member of the Winthrop Club of Spring- field, the Phi Beta Kappa, Harvard, the Con- necticut Valley Congregational Club, and the Connecticut Valley Historical Society. He was married April 13, 1882. to Miss Katharine Allyn Rice, of Springfield. They have one son : Theo- dore Waterbury Ellis. Jr.

FARRAR, HENRY TILLA, of Worcester, real estate, fire insurance and mortgage broker, is a native of Princeton, born January 28, 1837, son of Peter and Persis (Chaffin) Farrar. He is of English and Scotch ancestry. a direct descendant,

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on the paternal side. of Judge Farrar, who came from England, and settled in Pepperell. He was educated in the common schools of Princeton, and was early at work with his father, who was a carpenter and contractor. At the age of twenty- four he was established in the grocery business in Lynn, a member of the firm of Farrar & Hart- well. Two years later, in 1863, he sold out this business, and went to New York, where he entered an insurance office then at the corner of Broad- way and Murray Street. In 1865 he became the New England agent of Jesse Oakley & Co., and was with this firm, and with Colgate & Co., until

HENRY T. FARRAR.

1885, when he started his present business in Worcester. This rapidly developed until it be- came one of the most extensive of its class in the city. After three years alone, he formed a part- nership with Charles L. Gates, under the firm name of Farrar & Gates, which has since con- tinued. He has carried through some of the most important real estate transactions in Worcester, including the largest deal ever consummated here, -the purchase in 1894 of half an acre of the most valuable business property on Main Street, on be- half of the State Mutual Life Insurance Company, for a costly business block,-and conducted an extensive fire insurance and mortgage business.

The office of the firm, in the Knowles Building, finished in oak and highly decorated, has been pronounced the finest real estate office in New England. Mr. Farrar is a director of the Worces- ter Board of Trade, and president of the Common- wealth Club. He is connected with the Masonic fraternity, member of the Morning Star Lodge of Worcester and of the Worcester Royal Arch Chapter. Among other organizations to which he belongs is the Tattasit Canoe Club, of which he is an honorary member. In politics he is a Repub- lican. He has been active at times in political movements, but has never sought or desired office. He was married August 12, 1860, to Mary E. Partridge, daughter of Dr. Warren Partridge, of Princeton. They had no children. Mrs. Farrar died on the 4th of February. 1889.

FAY, JAMES MONROE, M.D., of Northampton, was born in Chester, Hampden County, March 23, 1847, son of Warren and Jane D. (Bell) Fay. His early education was somewhat blighted by the sud- den death of his father, leaving his mother with five children, himself, the eldest, but eight years of age. in destitute circumstances. The following years of boyhood he spent on a farm with Deacon Moses Gamwell, of Middlefield, attending the pub- lic schools during the winter months only. At the age of fifteen he left the farm, and entered the employ of his uncle, William Fay, of Chester, to learn the wood-turning trade. Here he was en- gaged for two years, attending, as before, the win- ter terms of the public schools. His plan for fur- ther education met with repeated disappointments. For two years his time and means were given to the care and comfort of his only brother, who de- veloped a hip-joint disease, and, after unabated suffering, died. He continued, however, to study text-books at odd hours, and subsequently was enabled to take a course at Wilbraham Academy, boarding himself and working his way from day to day. He began the study of medicine with the late Dr. William O. Bell, of Westfield, afterwards attending medical lectures at the University of Vermont, where he graduated in June, 1875. Later he attended a course of lectures at the C'ol- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. He was first in practice in the town of Colebrook, Conn., but soon removed by invitation to his native town, where for eight years he was the only physician and surgeon. At the end of

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that period, having overworked, he was compelled to take a rest, which resulted in the sale of his practice in this town, and his establishment in

J. M. FAY.

Northampton. While in Chester, he was twice elected a member of the School Board, on which he served as chairman five consecutive years. In Northampton he was elected a member of the Board of Health in 1887, and the following year city physician, which offices he held, through re- peated elections, till his election to the Legislature in the autumn of 1891 for the term of 1892, when he resigned both. As a member of the Legisla- ture, he served on the committee on public chari- table institutions, and was appointed one of the delegates to represent the State at the dedication of the World's Fair buildings in Chicago. Dr. Fay is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, president of the Hampshire Medical As- sociation, a member of the medical staff of the Cooly Dickinson Hospital, Northampton, member and secretary of the board of examining surgeons for pensions, and medical examiner for various life insurance companies. He enjoys a good gen- eral practice. and as a consulting physician is fre- quently called outside of his regular field. He has written a number of papers on medical topics, treating chiefly "congenital cystic degeneration of

kidneys," insomnia, cathartics, insanity, poliomy- elitis, and chorea : and has delivered lectures on ethnology of the races, trifles, and association of ideas. He is a Knight Templar, member and treasurer of the Northampton Commandery. Since 1891 he has been a trustee of the Hamp- shire Savings Bank. Dr. Fay was first married May 10, 1871. in Northampton, to Miss Harriette Forsyth. She died February 8. 1886. He mar- ried second, March 23, 1887, in Hatfield, Miss Mary L. Hubbard, daughter of Elisha and Cor- delia ( Randall) Hubbard. He has three children : Clara E. by his first, and Grace L. and Mary Bell Fay by his second marriage.

GARDNER, CHARLES LEFEVRE, of Palmer. district attorney for the Western district, was born in Cummington, Hampshire Country. May 27. 1839, son of Elisha and Elvira (Sprague) Gardner. His education was acquired in the public schools and in the famous Ashfield Academy, and he read law in the office of the late Judge S. T. Spaulding. of Northampton. Upon his admission to the bar in 1867 he established himself in Palmer, and has

CHARLES L. GARDNER.

since resided there. He was at first associated with James G. Allen. afterwards Judge Allen of the Eastern Hampden District Court, under the

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firm name of Allen & Gardner ; but since 1870 he has practised alone, his field embracing the prin- eipal places in the county. From 1870 to 1872, when the Eastern Hampden District Court was established, he was trial justice for Hampden County. He was elected district attorney for the Western district, comprising Hampden and Berk- shire counties, in the autumn election of 1892, for the term of three years. During the years 1875 and 1876 he represented his town in the lower house of the Legislature, and in 1878 and 1879 was a State senator, serving both terms in the House, and through his two terms in the Senate, on the committee on the judiciary; and in his second year in the House as a member also of the special committee on constitutional amendments. In 1868 he was appointed assistant internal reve- nue assessor, and held that office till 1870, when it was abolished. In 1886 he was made a mem- ber of the Board of Trustees of the State Primary and Reform Schools, and served one term, deelin- ing a reappointment. In polities he is a Repub- lican, prominent in the party councils. From 1879 to 1882 he was a member of the executive com- mittee of the Republican State Committee. In Palmer he has long been identified with move- ments for the development and prosperity of the town. He has been a trustee of the Palmer Savings Bank for many years, and from 1882 to 1890 was its president. He was married May 19, 1869, to Miss Esther E. Gilmore, of Monson, daughter of the late Nathaniel Gilmore, in his day a leading citizen of Stafford, Conn. They have two children : Charles Gilmore and Edwin Sprague Gardner.

GERE, HENRY SHERWOOD, of Northampton. editor of the Hampshire Gazette, is a native of Williamsburg, born April 30, 1828, son of Edward and Arabella (Williams) Gere. His grandfather, Isaac Gere, came to Northampton from Preston, Conn., in 1793 ; was a watch and elock maker, became a prominent citizen, one of the leading business men, and erected the first brick store in Northampton. Henry S. was educated in the public schools, at Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, and at Williston Seminary, Easthampton, one of the first to enter the latter institution. His con- nection with newspapers began at the age of seventeen, when he entered as an apprentice the printing-office of the Hampshire Herald, the first abolition or anti-slavery paper published in West-

ern Massachusetts. At nineteen he took the paper, and, with a fellow-apprentice as a partner, began to publish and edit it, having previously

HENRY S. GERE.

had a brief experience in a little venture of his own, called the Holyoke Mountaincer. After a year, during which time he did the editorial work and worked with his partner at the case and press, the Herald was merged into the Northampton Courier, then also a free-soil paper ; and he took the position of general assistant. Eight months later, in April, 1849, he bought the Courier, and for nearly ten years published and edited it alone. In 1858 the Courier and the Hampshire Gasette (dating from 1786) were united, and he has been a publisher and editor of that paper ever since. His service in newspaper printing-offices of nearly half a century (forty-nine years, March 5. 1894) is the longest in the Western part of the State, if not in the whole State,- the entire period in the same town, and thirty-six years in the same office. He is still on duty daily, doing his full share of work as the head of his paper, which he has kept stead- ily up with the times. Since November 1, 1890, a daily edition has been issued. During the Civil War he was eleven months in the Union army, en- listing as a private in the Fifty-second Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, in 1862. The regi-

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ment formed a part of the forces under General Banks in Louisiana, and soon after its arrival there he was detailed as postmaster at Baton Rouge. and served in that capacity through the term of his enlistment. For eighteen years ( 1859- 77) he was county treasurer ( Hampshire County). and for six years served on the School Committee of Northampton ; and he has held quite a number of smaller positions. He might have held legis- lative office, but he preferred to remain with his paper. He has mingled much with the people. and has been a welcome speaker at numerous banquets and rural gatherings. In politics he was first of the Liberty party, enlisting in the abolition contest with fervor, then of the Free-soil party, and then of the Republican. He has been chairman of the Republican county committee for twenty-five years. In 1890 the honorary de- gree of A.M. was conferred upon him by Amherst College. Mr. Gere was married August 22, 1849. at Easthampton, to Miss Martha Clark. They have had seven children : George S., Collins H .. Edward C., Frederick, Mary E., William H., and Martha F. Gere.

EDWARD F. GIDDINGS.

GIDDINGS, EDWARD FULLER, of Springfield, managing editor of the Union, is a native of New York, born in the town of Eaton, Madison

County, May 1. 1859. son of the Rev. Edward J. and Rebecca J. (Fuller ) Giddings. He was edu- cated in the public schools of Great Barrington, Mass. Subsequently he studied law in the office of Justin Dewey, now of the Superior Court bench. He was graduated from the law school of the University of Michigan in 1883, having been ad- mitted to the Michigan bar the previous year. He began newspaper work in 1884 as a reporter on the staff of the paper of which he is now the managing editor. He was promoted to the city editorship in 1887, and became managing editor in 1889. He is a member of the Hampden Lodge of Odd Fellows and of the Winthrop Club. Springfield. In politics he is a Republican. He was married September 16, 1879. to Miss Nellie Barnes Wood, of Great Barrington. They have two children : Harold Fuller and Olive Giddings.

GILL, JAMES D., of Springfield, fine arts dealer, was born in Hinsdale, Berkshire County, June 27. 1849, son of Bartholomew and Mary (Dwyer) Gill. His education was acquired in the public schools and at the academy of Hins- dale. Out of school hours he was generally employed by the townspeople on errands or was interested in healthful games. For one summer he was on a farm belonging to George T. Plunkett. and drove the milk-cart through the village. In the spring months he bought maple sugar, and peddled it on the cars between Hinsdale and Pittsfield, clearing, many a day, ten dollars for his day's work. He left Hinsdale in 1867 for a posi- tion offered him by the Hon. Lewis J. Powers, of Springfield, in the retail department of the latter's paper and notion business. Here he was en- gaged until 1869, when Mr. Powers sold this department, and thereafter was with Charles W. Clark, the purchaser, until 1871. Then he en- tered business on his own account, forming a partnership with the late Frederick R. Hayes. under the firm name of Gill & Hayes. This relation continued until 1876, when he succeeded to the entire business, and has since remained the sole proprietor. For many years he has been interested in the best work of the foremost of American artists ; and through them his name has become widely known, not only in this country, but in Europe. His annual exhibitions have been given always in the month of February, and the works shown have come direct from the artists'

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studios, personally selected by him. Each one of the seventeen exhibitions thus far given has been a marked success. The galleries in which the works are shown were erected especially for this purpose, and are admirably constructed and arranged. From them canvases have gone to nearly every State in the Union. Mr. Gill is a firm believer in the future of American art, and his convictions are only strengthened by his fre- quent visits to the principal galleries of the Old World. He enters into the social, political, and business life of his adopted city as few men do. He belongs to the Winthrop Club, is a member

JAMES D. GILL.

of the De Soto Lodge of Odd Fellows, and of Springfield Lodge of Freemasons. In politics he is an ardent Republican. He was president of the Harrison and Morton Battalion in 1888, president of the City Republican Club from 1890 to 1893, chairman of the Republican county committee of Hampden for about six years, and until he resigned ; and he is now (1894) vice- president of the National League of Republican clubs for Massachusetts. He represented his ward in the Springfield City Council in ISSo and 18SI, and was a member of the Board of Alder- men in 1883. Mr. Gill was married November 16, 1874, to Miss Evelyn Clyde, daughter of the

late Milton A. Clyde, of Springfield. They have one son : James Milton Gill. Mr. Gill lives on upper Worthington Street, in one of the most attractive residences of the neighborhood.

GILMORE, DWIGHT OLMSTEAD, of Springfield, proprietor of the Court Square Theatre, is a native of Connecticut, born in the town of Staf- ford, November 2, 1837, son of Nathaniel and Charlotte A. (Olmstead) Gilmore. Both parents were also Connecticut born, his grandparents be- ing natives of Enfield. His birthplace was the Stafford Street Hotel, in stage-coach days a regular stopping-place for meals of the old New York and Boston stage line, of which his father was landlord. He comes from a family of hotel-keepers. His mother's brother, Elisha Holton Olmstead, known as " the deacon," began in the noted Warriner Tavern in Springfield, now known as Chandler's Hotel, from which he went to Boston, and with his brother, John Dwight Olmstead, managed the Tremont for a number of years, and was also connected with the Revere House at Boston and the Ocean House at New- port, R.I. Four stages stopped at the Stafford Street Hotel and changed horses daily, and in the great stables adjoining the stage line company kept a large number of its teams. He can remember seeing his father sitting in the saddle, waiting for the mounted courier with the Presi- dent's message, which he took under his arm, and carried to the next stopping-place, Sturbridge, on its way to the State House, at Boston. Here the boy lived till he was six years old, when his father died, leaving his mother with four small children, whom she moved to Monson, Mass., her home some time before her marriage, and bravely went to work to support and educate them. The mother and children are all still living. The oldest, Charles N., is assistant superintendent of the Rock Island Railroad, Edwin G. is proprietor of the Academy of Music, Fourteenth Street, New York, and the sister is the wife of Charles L. Gardner, of Palmer, district attorney of Hamp- den and Berkshire counties. Dwight O. ac- quired his education in the common schools and at Monson Academy, which after his tenth year and until his seventeenth he attended winters only, working on neighboring farms through the spring, summer, and autumn seasons. At the age of seventeen he apprenticed himself to a local

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spectacle-maker. D. D. Moody, of Monson, to learn the trade of spectacle-making, at that time quite an industry. He served three years as apprentice and three years more as a journeyman in Mr. Moody's employ. The opening of the Civil War and the high premium on gold and silver temporarily ruining the spectacle business, and Mr. Moody finally being obliged to close his shop, young Gilmore came to Springfield ( May 13, 1862), intending to go to work in the pistol shop of Smith & Wesson, a former shopmate having secured him a place here. By an unavoidable delay, however, he failed to reach Springfield at

DWIGHT O. GILMORE.

the appointed time, and another man was taken for the place. In looking about for another open- ing, he found that he could purchase an interest in the Music Hall Dining-rooms, which was then the principal restaurant of the city, and occupied the site of the present Opera House. This was his opportunity, and he seized it. He continued the business, after the burning of the Music Hall on July 24. 1864, occupying the basement of the present building, which succeeded that structure, until 1868, when he sold out, and built the Gilmore Building at No. 420 Main Street. In 1871 he added the hotel adjoining. Ten years later, in 1881, he bought the Opera House property, and

entirely renovated it, changing the name from Haynes's Music Hall to Gilmore's Opera House. Subsequently he further improved the Opera House, and also enlarged the hotel, making it one of the largest in the city. In the spring of 1891 he began his most important undertaking, the erection of the Court Square Theatre and busi- ness block adjoining, in the heart of the city. These were completed in the autumn of 1892, one of the handsomest groups of buildings in Springfield ; and the beautiful theatre, pronounced by the Springfield Republican in every particular comparable with the best, was formally opened on the evening of September 5, with a brilliant audience, including Governor Russell with mem- bers of his staff as guests, and the leading citi- zens of Springfield. In February, 1892, the excellence of his work was formally recognized by the presentation (on the evening of the 24th) of the painting of "Ophelia " by Jules Joseph Lefebvre, of Paris, for which the subscribers paid $5,000, bearing this inscription : " Presented to Dwight (). Gilmore by his friends, in appreciation of his enterprise and public spirit in building the Court Square Theatre, Springfield, Mass., Sep- tember 5th, 1892." The presentation was made by a committee of citizens representing the sub- scribers to the fund, and the painting now hangs in the foyer of the theatre. Mr. Gilmore has served in both branches of the city government of Springfield,-in the Common Council in 1881 and 1882, and in the Board of Aldermen in 1883-84 .- receiving in each case the nomination from both parties. He is himself a Republican. He is one of the stockholders of the Hampden Park Association of Springfield, and treasurer of the trotting association. He is unmarried.

GRANT, CHARLES EDWARD, of Worcester, fire insurance business, is a native of Maine, born in Kennebunk, June 14. 1842, son of Edward and Rebecca (Mason) Grant. His father was of Scotch, and his mother of English descent. His ancestors on the paternal side were among the earliest settlers in the vicinity of Saco, Me., coming there from Cape Cod : and on the maternal side he descends from settlers in Haverhill in 1648, who subsequently removed to near Keene. N.H. He was educated in the public schools of Boston, his parents moving to that city when he was a child. He served throughout the Civil

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War, enlisting on the 22d of September, 1861, as sergeant in the Twenty-fourth Regiment, Massa- chusetts Volunteers, having served during the previous May with the New England Guards at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor. He was commissioned second lieutenant May 23, 1863, and captain in the Fifty-fifth Regiment, Massa- chusetts Volunteers, the 7th of June following ; then major by brevet for gallantry on James Island, S.C., July 2, 1864. During the last year of his service he was detached for staff duty, act- ing as aid and provost marshal in July, 1864; su-

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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 40

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