Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 42

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 42

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quantity of the iron and steel work used in the construction of locomotives and cars is produced. Mr. Hawkins is a member of the financial com-

R. F. HAWKINS.

mittee of the Hampden Savings Bank, a director of the Board of Trade. and concerned in other local institutions. In politics he is a Republican, and has repeatedly been urged to stand as the party candidate for mayor of the city: but he has steadfastly declined on the ground that his busi- ness demanded his best time and attention. He has, however, served on the Board of AAldermen three terms (1872-74), and is now a member of the Board of Water Commissioners. Mr. Haw- kins was married September 3, 1862. to Miss Cor- nelia M. Howe, daughter of Amasa B. and Sarah (Cadwell) Howe. of Springfield. They have five children : Paul, Florence. Edith, Ethel, and David Hawkins.

HIGGINS, FRANCIS ELON. of Worcester. mer- chant. is a native of Worcester, born October 15. 1851, son of E. G. and Lucy M. (Graves) Higgins. He is a descendant in the direct line of Henry Higgins, son of Jonathan Higgins, of Cape Cod. who moved to Hardwiek early in the eighteenth century, and joined the [Baptist church there in

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

1736. His ancestry on the maternal side is traced back to William Childs, who came to America from England in 1634. He was educated in the

FRANCIS E. HIGGINS.

public schools, finishing at the Worcester Iligh School. After leaving school, he went to work in the counting-room of the Ames Plow Company. where he was employed till July. 1869, when he entered the store of E. G. & F. W. Higgins (com -- posed of his father and uncle), dealers in wall paper and interior decoration. In 1876 F. W. Higgins retired ; and the business was continued under the name of E. G. Higgins until the ist of January, 1880, when Francis E. bought a half interest in it, and the name was changed to E. G. Higgins & Co. He then assumed the management, and established a jobbing department. In 1884 he made an extended trip abroad for the purpose of studying the development there of the art of interior decoration, and upon his return consider- ably extended this feature of his business. In February, 1893, the present corporation, under the name of the E. G. Higgins Company, was formed, with himself as treasurer and manager, and E. G. Higgins as president. The house now sells through its jobbing branch to dealers in all sec- tions of New England, and several New York architects carry its line of samples ; and it im-

ports from England, Scotland. France, Germany, and Japan direct. In September, 1893, a branch store was opened in Boston. Mr. Higgins has done some work in oil and water-color painting, and was an active member and treasurer of the Art Students' Club for seven years. He was also a corporate member of the organization. He is now a member of the Commonwealth Club of Worcester and of the Worcester Board of Trade. He was married October 12, 1885, to Miss Sarah C. Heald, of Worcester. They have two children : Etha Hazel and Gladys Higgins.

HILL, ARTHUR GAYLORD, of Northampton, manufacturer, was born in Northampton, Decem- ber 6, 1841, son of Samuel L. and Roxana Maria (Gaylord) Hill. His father was the sixth Samuel in the direct line of descent. The family was first heard from in Rehoboth, this State, and then in Smithfield and Providence, R.I. His early edu- cation was attained in the public schools of North- ampton, the Hudson River Institute, Claverack,

ARTHUR G. HILL.

N. Y., and the West Newton ( Mass.) English and Classical School ; and he was graduated Bachelor of Science from Harvard, class of 1864. He be-

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

gan business life soon after leaving college with the Nonotuck Silk Company of Florence ; and he remained with this company, holding the position of assistant treasurer and assistant superintendent. for twenty years (1864 to 1884). Then he be- came a member of the firm of Martin & Hill, cash carrier manufacturers, and from 1889 to 1892 was president of the Martin Cash Company. He was also owner of the Hill Machine Works From 1888 to 1892. He has long been prominent in mu- nicipal affairs, serving as an alderman one term ( 1886): member of the School Committee one year : fire engineer, 1882 : member of the trust Funds commissioners three years ; trustee of the Forbes Library, 1890-93: trustee of the Lilly Library, 1890-92 ; and mayor of the city of Northampton in 1887 and 1888. He has also represented the city in the General Court. a member of the House of Representatives of 1890. He was president of the Northampton Board of Trade for 1888 to 1892. Hle is connected with the Knights of Honor, holding the position of grand dictator in 1889. and that of supreme representative 1889- 94 : and has been president, director, or manager of a number of athletic, dramatic, musical, and social clubs From 1861 to the present time. Mr. Hill was married July 7. 1869. to Miss Kate Elizabeth Edwards, of Northampton. They have two chil- dren living : Florence Gaylord and Marion Louise Hill.

HOPKINS, COLONEL WILLIAM SWINTON BEN- NETT, of Worcester, city solicitor, is a native of South Carolina, born in Charleston, May 2, 1836, son of Erastus and Sarah Hannah (Bennett) Hopkins. His first ancestor on the Hopkins side in this country was John Hopkins, who came from London to Cambridge with the Rev. Mr. Hooker in 1633, and moved soon to Hartford, C'onn. He and Stephen Hopkins, of the " May- Hower," and Edward Hopkins who came to Hart- ford, Conn .. in 1638 with the Rev. John Davenport, and was an early governor of Connecticut, were near relatives, if not brothers. His son Stephen built the first mill in Waterbury. Conn., which he gave to his son John, who became a man of public affairs and had some military position. This John of Waterbury was father of Colonel Hopkins's great-great-grandfather, Samuel Hop- kins, D.D., of West Springfield, Mass., who married Esther Edwards, the daughter of Timothy Edwards, of East Windsor, Conn., and sister of

Jonathan Edwards. Timothy Edwards married a daughter of the Rev. Solomon Stoddard, of North- ampton, who was a son of AAnthony Stoddard, who

W. S. B. HOPKINS.

came from England to Boston. Colonel Hopkins's great-grandfather was Samuel Hopkins, D.D., of Hadley, who was minister there fifty-four years ; his grandfather was a merchant in Boston, and moved to Northampton ; and his father, Erastus Hopkins, who spent most of his life and died in Northampton, was born in Hadley. John Hopkins, of Waterbury, was also the father of Timothy Hopkins, also of Waterbury, from whom the Berkshire County family, of which Presi- dent Mark Hopkins of Williams College was the most distinguished representative, was de- scended. On his mother's side Colonel Hopkins is descended from Thomas Bennett, who came from England to Charleston, and married Hayes Singletary, daughter of John Singletary of St. Paul's Parish, S.C., a Huguenot. His maternal grandfather, William Swinton Bennett, married Anna Theus, daughter of Major Simeon Theus (a patriotic man before and in the Revolution) and Rebecca Legare,-he the son of Simeon Theus, and she the daughter of Daniel Legare, both Huguenots. The intermarriages of these families form connections with the Swinton, Lucas,

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

Gadsden, and many other South Carolina families. Colonel Hopkins was educated mostly in private classical schools,-his earlier education acquired in a public classical school,-and at Williams College, where he graduated in the class of 1855. He studied law in the office of the Hon. William Allen at Northampton and at Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1858. He opened his first office on the 20th of August that year at Ware; and here he practised until soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, when he abandoned his business, and entered the service. Enlisting on October 9, 1861, he served as captain and lieutenant colonel, commanding the Thirty-first Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, from the first of November following to the Sth of April 1864. He went out in the first New Orleans Expedition, on the ship which carried General Butler, and after storm and ship- wreck made the voyage to Ship Island in about thirty days. They lay in the Mississippi River with the navy, and witnessed Farragut's passage of the forts. Captain Hopkins with his company cleared the wharf for the landing of the first troops in New Orleans. He camped in the city till August, 1862, and then passed six months in Fort Jackson in garrison. He participated in the Teche campaign in 1863, beginning with the battle of Bisland, which preceded Port Hudson, and was in the whole of that siege with its three bloody assaults. He was stationed at Baton Rouge till December, 1863, and then under orders converted his regiment into cavalry, and in 1864 took part in the Red River campaign, after the failure of which he resigned, and was honorably discharged. Resuming his profession, he prac- tised in New Orleans from May, 1864, to Septem- ber, 1866, during that period acting as special counsel there for the United States treasury. 'Then he returned to Massachusetts, and estab- lished himself in Greenfield, where, from October, 1866, to October, 1873, he practised, part of the time in partnership with David Aiken. Then he came to Worcester. and has since continued here in partnership with the late P. C. Bacon, and with Henry Bacon, and Frank B. Smith, holding a foremost position at the Worcester county bar. From 1871 to 1874 he was district attorney for the North-western District of Massachusetts. Sub- sequently he was district attorney for the Middle District (from 1884 to 1887); and in 1893 was made city solicitor of Worcester, which position

he still holds. He was the first commander of the Worcester Continentals, a veteran organiza- tion, in office twelve years ; and he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member also of the Sigma Phi Society at Williams College ; of the Worcester Club (the second presi- dent of the organization and still in office) ; and of the New York and the Boston University clubs. His politics have all been Republican. He went on the stump for Fremont before he could vote. As a boy, he was a " Free Soiler," as was his father before him. The latter was a " Free Soil " and Republican leader of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for many years, and was a promi- nent member of the national convention of 1860 which nominated Abraham Lincoln ; and twenty years after the son was a member of the con- vention which nominated his college mate, James A. Garfield. Colonel Hopkins has always refused political offices except those which were profes- sional. He was married January 20, 1859, to Miss Elizabeth Sarah Peck, of Easthampton. They have had four children : Sarah Bennett, Erastus, Elizabeth Peck, and William S. B. Hop- kins, Jr.

HOWELL, JOHN FREEMAN, OF Worcester, city auditor, was born in Sutton, December 16, 1830, son of Barnabas F. and Olive ( Peirce) Howell. On the maternal side his ancestry is traced back to John Peirce (or Pers), a weaver, who came to this country in 1637 from Norwich, Norfolk County, England, and was one of the settlers of Watertown, from whom all, or nearly all, of the army of Peirces or Pierces in America are de- scended. On the paternal side it is believed that his ancestors were Nova Scotians. His mother died June 17, 1840, when he was a boy of ten ; and in the autumn of the following year his father sold the farm in Sutton, and removed to East Douglas, later purchasing a farm there. He was educated in the common school of the times, with one year at an academy, from the age of six- teen to seventeen. Then he left the farm, in De- cember, 1847, to enter a country store in Clinton- ville (afterwards Clinton). He continued in mer- cantile business in Clinton for eighteen years, and then, in June, 1865, removed to Worcester, where he was clerk with W. O. Swett, in the grocery business, the next three years. From May, 1870, to April, 1887, he was book-keeper for the hard- ware firm of Kennicutt & Co., and thereafter

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clerk in the city auditor's office till June, 1889. when he was elected city auditor. He has occu- pied this office since that time, having been re-

J. F. HOWELL.

elected annually. Mr. Howell is prominent in the Masonic and other orders, treasurer of Mon- tacute Lodge, and Lawrence Chapter of Rose Croix, eighteenth degree A. and A. Scottish rite a member of intermediate bodies in S. R. Masonry, as well as those of the York Rite to Commandery of Knights Templar; is a past regent of Worces- ter Council, No. 12, Royal Arcanum; and past commander of Hope Council, No. 17. American Legion of Honor. In politics he was in early life a Whig until the dissolution of that party, since which he has been connected with the Republican party. He has never sought office, and those positions which he has held he has endeavored to fill with fidelity. He is a member of the Salem Street Congregational Church of Worcester, and one of the trustees of the parish. He was first married, May 15, 1850, to Miss Jane E. Lowe, of Clinton ; and second, February 22, 1864, to Miss Martha W. Tarbell, of Worcester. The chil- dren of the first marriage were Augustus F. (now of Winchester) and John Henry Howell (of Worcester) ; and of the second, one living .- Mattie R. Howell.

KENDRICK, EDMUND PEASLEE, of Spring- field, member of the bar. mayor of the city 1893- 94, is a native of New Hampshire, born in Leb- anon, February 1. 1849, son of George S. and Hannah ( Lyman) Kendrick. He is on both sides of early English ancestry. On his father's side the first to come to this country was John Ken- drick, who was born in England in 1604, and emigrated to Massachusetts before 1639. His father's mother was Thankful Howe, daughter of Abner Howe, who was a captain in the Revolu- tionary army. On his mother's side ancestors were engaged in the early Indian and Revolu- tionary wars. He was educated in the public schools of Lebanon, and at the Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N.H., from which he grad- uated in 1866. He also attended a business college in Springfield, from which he was duly graduated. He studied law with Judge Bosworth in Springfield, and at the Boston University Law School, and was admitted to the bar in Spring- field, October 25, 1876, to practise in the courts of the Commonwealth. Subsequently, in 1881, he was admitted to practice in the United States

E. P. KENDRICK.

Circuit Court. Ile has practised in Springfield since his admission to the bar. His public ser- vice began in 1881 as a member of the Spring-

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

field Common Council. Twice re-elected, he served through 1882 and 1883, being president of the board these years. In 1884 and 1885 he was a representative for Springfield in the lower house of the Massachusetts Legislature. In that body he served on the committees on the judi- ciary, civil service, and rules, and was influential in the passage of the civil service law. In 1890 he was a member of the Springfield Board of Aldermen. In the December election of 1892 he was first elected mayor for the term of 1893, and in the following election was returned for a second term by a majority of over fifteen hun- dred votes. Mr. Kendrick is a prominent Mason, member of the following bodies: Hampden Lodge Morning Star Chapter, Springfield Council, Springfield Commandery Knights Templar, Even- ing Star Lodge of Perfection, Massasoit Council, of all of which he has been at the head ; a mem- ber also of Springfield and Mt. Olivet Chapters of Rose Croix and Massachusetts Consistory. He is a past grand king of the Grand Chapter of Massachusetts, past deputy grand master of the Grand Council of Massachusetts, has received the thirty-third, or highest, Masonic degree, and is an honorary member of the Supreme Council. He is also connected with the Odd Fellows, a mem- ber of the De Soto Lodge. He is a member of the Winthrop Club of Springfield, and was for three years its president. He is a director of the Connecticut River Railroad Company, and of the Masonic Hall Association in Springfield ; and is one of the trustees for Hampden Lodge of Masons. In politics he has always been a Republican : and in religion he is an Episcopalian, a member of Christ Episcopal Church, of which he has been vestryman and clerk for many years. He has written considerably for the press on legal subjects, contributing to the New England Home- stead, the American Agriculturist, the Central Late Journal, and other periodicals, and has been a contributor to the American and English Ency- clopedia of Law. Mr. Kendrick was married April 9, 1885, to Miss Clara _\. Holmes, daughter of the late Otis Holmes, of Springfield. They have one child : Raymond Holmes Kendrick, born February 23, 1887.

KENT, THOMAS GODDARD, of Worcester, mem- ber of the bar, was born in Framingham, Decem- ber 12, 1829, son of John and Mary (Goddard)

Kent. On the paternal side he is of the fourth generation in direct descent from Samuel Kent, who was born in Charlestown, October 13, 1675 ;

THOMAS G. KENT.

and on the maternal side sixth in direct descent from Edward Goddard, who was born and lived in Norfolk County, England, was on the Parlia- ment side and much oppressed during the Civil War, when his house was demolished by a com- pany of Cavaliers, and whose son William came to America in 1665, and settled in Watertown. His father was a carriage-builder. Both parents were very religious, and the children of the family were trained under the Shorter Catechism, which they were required to repeat throughout every Sunday evening. He was fitted for college in Warren Academy, Woburn, and graduated from Vale in the class of 1851. Immediately after leaving col- lege he began the study of law with the Ilon. Ed- ward Mellen, chief justice of the then existing Court of Common Pleas. While a student, in the spring of 1852, his father died, leaving six chil- dren, but no fortune to distribute. He was en- abled, however, to continue his studies; and in October, 1853, he was examined by the Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, then justice of the Supreme Court, and upon his recommendation was admitted to the bar. He began practice established in Mil-

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ford, though his court work was in Worcester; and his business soon extended. Within his first seven years of practice he was arguing his causes before the judges of the Supreme Court at its an- nual session : and since 1859 he has never failed to have important cases to argue at this annual session. He has tried cases in all the counties of the State; but he is identified with the bar of Worcester County, where his general business has been for forty years. In 1869 he was elected to the lower house of the Legislature, and there served on the committee on the judiciary. In 1874 he was the Republican candidate in his dis- trict for the Senate, but was defeated in the gen- eral defeat of his party that year. In 1882 and 1883 he was one of the Massachusetts commis- sioners appointed to establish the boundary line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which had been in dispute for more than two hundred years, and was successfully accomplished by this commission. In 1875 he was appointed by the Supreme Court one of the three examiners of candidates for admission to the bar in Worcester County, which office he held for sixteen years, when he resigned. He removed his residence to Worcester in 1883, and in 1886 he was elected to the House of Representatives from this city. In the session following he was chairman of the committee on the judiciary. laving no taste for legislation or politics, he declined a re-election. In 1879 he spent several months in travel in Europe. Mr. Kent has lost two wives by death .- the first in 1863, after a union of six years; and the second in 1877, after a union of eleven years. He married again in 1887 Miss Lucy A. F'lagg, of Worcester.

KIMBALL. HENRY N., of Northampton, mer- chant, mayor of the city 1894, is a native of Con- necticut, born in Windham, May 3, 1842, son of Albert and Melissa (Woodward) Kimball. His father was also a native of Windham (born 1808. died June 6, 1886), and his mother of another Con- necticut town (born 1812), now living in Scotland. Windham County. He was brought up on a rugged and rocky farm, and acquired his educa- tion in the local common and high schools. At the age of eighteen he became a teacher. and for eight years thereafter taught school winters and worked on the farm summers. In 1869 he left farming and school-teaching, and entered the em- ploy of the New York & New Haven Railroad Com-

pany, in the freight department at New Haven. After a service here of about four years he went to the Air Line Railroad as clerk to the super- intendent. and remained on that line five years, part of the time filling the positions of general freight agent and general ticket agent. In April. 1879, he left the railroad business, and established himself at Holyoke. Mass., in the coal business, in which he has since continued. In July. 1881. he removed to Northampton, where his business has grown from small beginnings to upwards of 100 .- ooo tons a year. It is now conducted under the firm name of Kimball & Cary. Mr. Kimball is also a director of the Hampshire County National Bank, of the Norwood Engineering Company. and of the Boston Cash Register Company : and a trustee of the Hampshire Savings Bank. He has served one term in the Connecticut House of Rep- resentatives ( 1869). three terms in the Massachu- setts House of Representatives ( 1888-89-90), and three terms in the State Senate. In the Massa- chusetts Legislature he served five years on the committee on railroads: also on the committees on banks and banking, and woman's suffrage.

HENRY A. KIMBALL.

He was especially identified with legislation rela- tive to the separation of grade crossings, and was promoter and champion of what is known as the

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"Northampton Grade Crossing Act," passed in 1892, under the provisions of which the problem of separating the grade crossings of Northampton is almost assured during his administration as mayor. He was elected mayor of Northampton for the term of 1894 as a Democrat, by thirty-five majority, although the city went Republican for governor a month earlier by nearly three hun- dred. In politics he has been always a Democrat. He is a member of Masonic bodies, including Knights Templar. He was married October 13, 1863, to Miss Mary T. Williams, of Canterbury, Conn., daughter of Harlow and Lotilla D. Will- iams. She died October 15, 1865. He married second, October 23, 1867. Miss Hannah M. Will- iams, a sister of his first wife. He has no chil- dren.

KNOWLTON, MARCUS PERRIN, of Springfield, justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Com- monwealth, was born in Wilbraham, February 3, 1839, son of Merrick and Fatima ( Perrin) Knowl- ton. His boyhood was spent on a farm in Mon- son, to which his parents moved when he was five

M. P. KNOWLTON.

years old. He was educated in the common schools, at the Monson Academy, and at Yale, where he graduated in the class of 1860. His first

occupation was that of a teacher, before entering college teaching a district school two winters, and after graduation becoming principal of the Union School at Norwalk, Conn. For some time also he was an instructor while at Yale. He began his law studies early in 1861, reading first with James G. Allen, of Palmer, and then with John Wells and Augustus L. Soule, of Springfield, both of whom were afterwards on the Supreme Bench ; and he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar late in 1862. Eight years later he was admitted to practice in the United States Supreme Court. Before his elevation to the bench he was con- nected with numerous large interests, and served in various official capacities. In 1872 and 1873 he was president of the Springfield Common Council; in 1878 he was a Springfield represen- tative in the lower house of the Legislature, where he served on the important committees on the judiciary, on the liquor law, State detective force, and constitutional amendments; and in 1880 and 1881 a State senator, representing the First Hampden District. At this time also he was a director of the Springfield & New London Rail- road Company : director of the City National Bank of Springfield ; and trustee and treasurer of the Springfield City Hospital. He was first ap- pointed a justice of the Superior Court in August, 1881, and was promoted to the Supreme Bench in 1887 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Judge Gardner, who died the following year. Judge Knowlton was first married July 18, 1867, at Springfield, to Sophia Ritchie, daughter of William and Saba A. (Cushman) Ritchie. She died February 18, 1886. On May 21, 1891, he was married to Rose M. Ladd, of Portland, Me., daughter of Cyrus K. and Susan Ladd. They have one child: Marcus L. Knowlton, born March 23, 1892.

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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 42

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