USA > Massachusetts > Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts > Part 43
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LANGTRY, ALBERT PERKINS, of Springfield, publisher of the Springfield Union, was born in Wakefield, July 27, 1860, son of Joseph and Sarah J. (Lakin) Langtry. His father was a na- tive of St. John, N.B., and his mother of Boston. He was educated in the common schools, mostly at Newton, to which his parents moved when he was a child. He began active life at the age of eighteen as boy in a Boston office. Subsequently he found his way into journalism, and in 1882 be- came a reporter on the Brooklyn (N.Y.) Standard-
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Union. In 1886 he joined the staff of the Brook- lyn Times, also as a reporter, later becoming man- ager of the Long Island edition of the same paper.
A. P. LANGTRY.
In 1890 he came to Springfield as business man- ager of the Union, then an evening paper only. In 1892, when the property was reorganized and the morning issue started, he became general manager, and in 1894 was made publisher, the position he now holds. Under his management the Union has grown largely in circulation, adver- tising business, and influence. Mr. Langtry was also one of the founders of the Providence (R.I.) News. In politics he is a Republican, but has never held office. He was married August 3, 1886, to Miss Sallie C. Spear, of the West Rox- bury District, Boston. They have no children.
LATHROP, EDWARD HOWARD, of Spring- field, member of the Hampden bar, is a native of Springfield, born December 2, 1837, son of Belia and Lucinda (Russell) Lathrop. He isa descend- ant of the Rev. John Lathrop, of Boston, or- dained minister of the Second Church in Boston in 1768, and is of the branch of the Lathrop family to which Mr. Justice Lathrop of the Massachu- setts Supreme Court belongs. He was educated
in the common schools and at the English and Classical Institute of Springfield, and began the study of law in 1856, in the office of Merrill & Willard, at Montpelier, Vt. He was admitted to the bar in December, 1859, and has since prac- tised continuously in Springfield. His public life began as a member of the lower house of the Legislature of 1868. In 1874 he was a State senator, representing the First Hampden District. For the succeeding three years, 1875-76-77, he was district attorney for the Western district made up of the counties of Hampden and Berkshire, in which office he maintained the high standard which had been set by his predecessors. In 1881 he was re-elected to the House of Representatives for the term of 1882, and four years later re- turned for 1886, serving both terms on the com- mittce on the judiciary. In 1878 and again in 1892 he was the Democratic candidate for Con- gress in his district. He has a reputation for in- dependence, and his boldness in expressing his mind has won respect among his opponents. During the campaign of ISSo he came out in a letter for Garfield, and after that acted with the
EDWARD H. LATHROP.
Republicans, though openly differing with their tendency on the tariff issue, until the adoption by the party of the extreme high tariff policy, when
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he returned to fellowship with the Democrats. He has a graceful faculty of campaign oratory, and is a favorite speaker at banquets and other public occasions. Mr. Lathrop is connected with the Masonic order, a member of the Springfield Schuetzen Verein, the Springfield Royal Arch Chapter, the Council Commandery, Rosewell Lee Lodge; and his club connections are with the Springfield, the Winthrop, "Kamp Komfort Klub," and the Westminster of Springfield. He was married November 26, 1867, to Miss Susan T. Little, of Huntington. They have had three children : Maud (deceased), Edward H., Jr. (de- ceased), and Paul H. Lathrop.
LONG, CHARLES LEONARD, of Springfield, member of the bar, is a native of Lowell, born September 16, 1851. son of David W. and Orpha (Leonard) Long. He is a descendant of David Long who lived in Taunton, and there died Octo- ber 14, 1784. He was educated in the public schools of Lowell. He entered the Harvard Law School, and at the end of one year passed the two
CHAS. L. LONG.
years' course, and received the degree of LL. B. (1871). The next term he returned to the school, and engaged in a general study of the law till
February, 1872, when he went to Springfield, and entered the law office of Stearns & Knowlton, consisting of the Hon. George M. Stearns, of Chicopee, and the Hon. Marcus P. Knowlton, now a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. In 1875 he was admitted to membership in the firm, when it took the name of Stearns, Knowlton, & Long, and was a member thereof until its dissolution in 1878, by the retirement of Mr. Stearns to his office in Chicopee. Thereupon the firm of Knowlton & Long was formed, which continued till Mr. Knowlton was appointed to the Superior Court in 1881, since which Mr. Long has practised alone. He is recognized as one of the leading lawyers of the city, and has a large general practice, being counsel for many of the financial and manufacturing corporations of Springfield. He was city solicitor in 1881, again in 1889-90-91. and in 1893-94; and was ap- pointed by Governor Ames one of the associate justices of the Police Court of Springfield on De- cember 26, 1889. He has served three terms in the Springfield Common Council, in 1884-85-86, the last two terms president of the body, and in the December election of 1894 he was elected mayor of Springfield for the year 1895. In pol- itics he has always been a Republican. He is a member of the Winthrop Club of Springfield. Mr. Long was married December 15, 1880, to Miss Hattie F. Clyde, daughter of Milton A. and Caroline V. Clyde, of Springfield. They have one child : Milton Clyde Long.
LONGLEY, HENRY ASHLEY, of Northampton, for a long period high sheriff of Hampshire County, was born in Hawley, Franklin County, January 5, 1814 ; died in Northampton, Decem- ber 27, 1893. His grandfather, Edmond Longley, was one of the first settlers of Hawley, at that time designated as Plantation No. 7; served in the War of 1812, and died at the advanced age of ninety-six, retaining his faculties in a remarkable degree until the last. Mr. Longley was educated in his native town and in the Bennington Semi- nary, where he spent two terms, entering at the age of seventeen. After his graduation from the academy he engaged in mercantile business, in company with his father, in Belchertown. In April, 1861, he removed to Northampton; and there he lived for the remainder of his life. He was first made sheriff of Hampshire in February,
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1855, receiving the appointment from Governor Henry Gardner, and held the office until it be- came elective. Then. as the Republican candi-
H. A. LONGLEY.
date, which party he had joined on its formation, he was elected to the position; and he was again and again returned, always with large pluralities, and once with but a single vote against him in the whole county, the score rounding up to nine terms, an aggregate of twenty-seven years, which with his previous service gave him a record of about thirty years. In appearance and in phys- ical development, the Hampshire Gazette has re- marked, he was "the typical high sheriff. He introduced the practice of his officers wearing the blue brass-button uniform when on duty in the courts, which has since become the established custom everywhere. He was always a popular officer. He was full of sympathy for his fellow- men, and the prisoners had no better friend than he. Sometimes this sympathy got the better of his judgment: but the people always stood by him, for they liked his kindly, humane disposition. He was a man of fine feeling, and had a deep sense of religious matters." Early in his career, when living in Belchertown, Major Longley was a representative in the General Court (1849-52 and 1854), and as a legislator supported those
measures which he believed would best promote the welfare of the State, secure prosperity, and prevent discord. He belonged to the Masonic order, member of the Jerusalem Lodge. He was married October 16, 1833, to Miss Eliza Smith, daughter of Obed Smith. They had a son and a daughter : William Hyde and Sylvia Elizabeth Longley.
LYFORD, EDWIN FRANCIS, of Springfield, member of the bar, is a native of Maine. born in Waterville. September 8, 1857, son of Moses Lyford, LL.D., and Mary L. (Dyer) Lyford. His father was for many years a professor in Colby University in the department of astronomy and natural philosophy. The family history has been traced back to Francis Lyford, a mariner of Boston, commander of the sloop "Elizabeth." who died in 1723. Edwin F. attended the public schools of his native place ; was fitted for college at the Waterville, now Coburn Classical Institute, and was graduated from Colby University in 1877. In 1882 he received the degree of A.M. from the
EDWIN F. LYFORD.
same institution. After graduation from college he studied law in the office of the Hon. Reuben Foster at Waterville, and also taught for a while
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in high school and in university. He was ad- mitted to the bar in Maine in 1879, and to the Massachusetts bar in 1882, when he removed to Springfield. Since that time he has been in active practice in the latter city. He early became in- terested in municipal and political affairs, and has served his city in its local government and in the State Legislature. He was a member of the Springfield City Council in 1885 and 1886; mem- ber of the House of Representatives in 1892 and in 1893, and of the Senate in 1894. In the House he served as clerk of the committee on cities in 1892 ; and as chairman of the committee on probate and insolvency, and member of that on constitutional amendments, in 1893. During the latter year he was also chairman of the special committee charged with the investigation of the Bay State Gas Company, as the result of which investigation the act known as the "Lyford Bill" was passed, which conditionally revoked the char- ter of the company. In the Senate he served as chairman of the Senate committee on probate and insolvency, and as clerk of the Senate committee on the judiciary, and was a member of the joint committee on taxation and that on revision of corporation laws. He was also chairman of the joint special committee on "the unemployed." He served as secretary of the Republican Club of Springfield in 1888, and secretary of the Ward Five Republican Club in 1891. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Colby University, a director of the Springfield Young Men's Christian Association, a member of the American Associa- tion for the Advancement of Science, member of the Connecticut Valley Historical Society; of the Winthrop, Westminster, and Saturday Night clubs of Springfield, the Springfield Bicycle Club, the Springfield Canoe Association ; of the Middlesex Club of Boston ; and of the Massachusetts State Republican Club,- on the executive committee of the latter. In religious views Mr. Lyford is a Baptist, member of the State Street Baptist Church of Springfield. He has done some liter- ary work of note, and in 1882 published a book for children entitled "Pictures and Stories from American History." He is unmarried.
MCCLURE, FREDERICK ALBERT, of Worcester, city engineer, is a native of New Hampshire, born in Nashua, .August 1, 1852, son of Charles E. and Lucinda (Smith) McClure. On the paternal side
he is of Scotch ancestry, and on the maternal of English. He is a descendant of the McClures who were among the early settlers of London- derry, N.H. His father, born in Merrimack, son of Edward McClure, was a merchant of Nashua for many years. Frederick A. was educated in the public schools of his native place. After passing through the High School, he entered upon a course of training for the profession of a civil engineer, taking a position in the office of the city engineer of Worcester in 1869, and continuing in this office for three years. Then he began oper- ating upon the construction of railroads as an assistant engineer. After much experience and practical knowledge gained in this way, his last employment being on the work of changing a por- tion of the railway lines within the limits of the city of Worcester, he re-entered the office of the city engineer in 1877. Here he remained as an assistant till 1891, when he was elected superin- tendent of sewers, in which capacity he served until elected to his present position, to which he has been twice re-elected. As a civil engineer, he has won more than a local reputation. He is a
FREDK. A. MCCLURE.
member of the Worcester County Society of Civil Engineers, and of other organizations. In poli- tics he is a Republican. He was married May
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29, 1883, to Miss Ida Evelyn Whittier, of Fitch- burg. They have one child, a daughter : Evelyn McClure.
W. H. MCKNIGHT.
MCKNIGHT, WILLIAM HARRISON, of Spring- field, real estate operator, is a native of New York, born in Truxton, Cortlandt County, July 6, 1836, son of Charles and Almira (Clapp) McKnight. On his father's side he is of Scotch descent, and on his mother's of English. His pater- nal great-grandfather, Lewis MeKnight, settled in Monmouth County, New Jersey, about the year 1700 ; and his first ancestor on his mother's side in America was Roger Clap, born at Salcombe Regis, Devonshire, England, April 6, 1609, who came out in the "Mary and John," landed at Nantasket, Mass., May 30, 1630, and was one of the first settlers of Dorchester. His father was born at Charlton, N.Y., August 12, 1787, his mother at Easthampton, Mass., January 23, 1802; and they married August 30, 1821. He was educated in the public schools of Truxton. In 1858 he entered the dry-goods trade in Springfield, and continued in this business for twenty years. From 1878 to ISSo he was in the flour commis- sion business ; and since ISSo he has been en- gaged in real estate operations, under the firm name of J. D. & W. H. Mcknight. He is now
(1894) president, director, and trustee of the Mutual Investment Company. He has been a generous giver of land for public park purposes, having with J. D. McKnight, his partner and brother, given to the city Thompson's Park, McKnight Park, two parks in Amherst Street, Clarendon Street Park, Dartmouth Street Park, and McKnight Glen. He also gave the lot on Buckingham Street for the Children's Home. He is a director of the Oak Grove Cemetery. He was formerly a member of the Springfield Club, and now belongs to the Winthrop Club. In politics he is a Republican. He was mar- ried August 30, 1864, to Miss Caroline Phelps James, daughter of Willis James, of New York. They have one daughter : Lillian James McKnight.
MARDEN, FREDERICK GRAY, of Worcester, proprietor of the Commonwealth Hotel, was born in Boston, August 2, 1855, son of Jefferson L. and Frances (Veazie) Marden. He is of Puritan ancestry, on his mother's side in direct line of the Veazies early in Massachusetts, and on his
F. G. MARDEN.
father's side from first settlers in Portsmouth, N.H. He was educated in the public schools of Quincy and Boston. When a boy of eleven, he
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was at work on a farm in Maine. At the age of fifteen his schooling was finished; and not long after he was employed in a dry-goods commission house, in which business he continued several years. In 1881 he was connected with the Mem- phremagog House, Newport, Vt., as clerk, and he has been engaged in the hotel business ever since. After an experience of about a year at the United States Hotel, Boston, as clerk, he took the Hotel Preston at Beach Bluff, which he managed through the seasons of 1883 and 1884. In 1886 he be- came the proprietor of the Clifford House in Plymouth. In 1890 he went to the City Hotel, Portland, Me., where he remained till February. 1893, when with a partner he bought the Com- monwealth Hotel, and removed to Worcester. This house, one of the largest in the city, he has since conducted, under the firm name of F. G. Marden & Co.
MARSH, CHARLES SMITH, of Springfield, mer- chant, is a native of Hardwick, Worcester County, born May 15, 1842, son of Joel Smith and Abi- gail Drury (Gleason ) Marsh. He is a descendant in the direct line of John Marsh, one of the first settlers of Hartford, Conn., there in 1639, who lived some time also in Hadley and in Northamp- ton, Mass. His great - great -great - grandfather, Samuel Marsh, lived in Hatfield, and was a rep- resentative in the General Court in 1705 -06. His great-great-grandfather, Thomas, moved early to Ware ; his great-grandfather, Judah, also lived in Ware, and died there, aged nearly eighty- nine years ; and his grandfather, Joel, was the first to reside in Hardwick, moving there about the year 1800. His paternal grandmother lived to the age of nearly ninety-four, and his father reached the ripe age of eighty-nine years and ten months. His mother also lived to a good old age, her death occurring in 1885 in her eighty- first year. His education was begun in the Hard- wick public schools, and completed in those of Springfield, which he attended from his ninth to his eighteenth year. Upon leaving school, he en- tered the wholesale and retail grocery business established by his father in Springfield in 1852, the year the town became a city, and has been connected with it ever since, a period of thirty- four years. From 1861 to 1866 they carried on two stores, he conducting one at No. 4 Burt's Block, Main Street, and his father and younger
brother, George, the other in Union Block. In 1866 George died. and the two stores were then consolidated. From Umon Block removal was
CHAS. S. MARSH.
made in 1876 to the present location in Barnes Block, in which Mr. Marsh owns a half interest. He early became a partner in the business, while the firm name was J. S. Marsh & Co. It became J. S. Marsh & Son upon the removal to Barnes Block, and so remained till the death of the sen- ior Marsh in August, 1893, although the latter virtually retired from the business several years before, and it had for some time been largely man- aged by the son, who developed it to its present proportions. Mr. Marsh is prominent in the Ma- sonic order, a member of the Hampden Lodge, Springfield, of the Morning Star Chapter, Spring- field, the Springfield Council, the Springfield Commandery Knights Templar, the Evening Star Lodge of Perfection (present treasurer, having been previously some time secretary), the Massa- soit Princes of Jerusalem, the Springfield Chapter of Rose Croix, and the Massachusetts Consistory, thirty-second degree, of Boston. He belongs to the Masonic Social Club of Springfield, and has been a member of the Winthrop Club. For sev- eral years he has been connected with the Spring- field Board of Trade. In politics he is a Repub-
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lican, and in religion a Congregationalist,-a member of the First Church of Christ, in Spring- field, since 1866, and its treasurer for five years. 1876-80. He never married.
MARSH, DANIEL JAY, of Springfield, treasurer of the Five Cents Savings Bank, is a native of Connecticut, born in Hartford, July 27, 1837, son of Michael and Catheryn (Allyn) Marsh. He is a descendant of John Marsh, who emigrated from Braintree, England, in 1633, was a pioneer set- tler of Hartford, C't., and of Hadley, Mass., and married Anne Webster, daughter of Governor John Webster of Connecticut, some of whose grandsons were pioneers of Litchfield, New Hart- ford, and Lebanon, Ct., and one, Colonel Eben- ezer Marsh, led a Connecticut regiment against Ticonderoga. Among his ancestors Mr. Marsh also counts the famous Mathers, - the Rev. Rich- ard Mather, grandson of John Mather of Lowton, Lancaster, England, who landed in Boston, Au- gust 16, 1635, and was long the minister of Dor- chester; Increase Mather, son of Richard, and
DANIEL J. MARSH.
Cotton Mather, son of Increase; and the Allyns, descending from the Hon. Matthew Allyn, who came from Brampton, Devon, England, and settled
in Charlestown in 1632, was representative from 1648 to 1658, commissioner for the United Colo- nies 1660-64, and magistrate 1657-67, many of whose descendants served with distinction in the armies of the colonies against the Indians, the French, and in the War of the Revolution. He was educated in the district school in Springfield and at the Wilbraham Academy. He began busi- ness life as a clerk in a drug store. Afterward he was some time a book-keeper in a dry-goods store, then in an insurance office, then for the construc- tion company that built the Ohio & Mississippi and North Missouri Railroads (conducting the first train over the latter road), and in 1859 he was elected to the position which he still holds,- treasurer of the Springfield Five Cents Savings Bank. During the Civil War he served a year in the army, 1861-62, going out as a private in the Forty-sixth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers, soon promoted through the lower grades to lieu- tenant, and later aide-de-camp and acting adju- tant-general, Eighteenth Army Corps, on the staff of General H. C. Lee. He has served in the City Council of Springfield one term (1874), and has been a park commissioner since the organization of the board in 1883, president of the board for ten years. In politics he is a Democrat, and a firm believer in the rights of the people. He is a member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Loyal Legion of the United States. He was mar- ried May 15. 1864, to Miss Harriet Mary Gay, daughter of N. Denslow Gay. They have two children : Henry Daniel (born 1865) and Oliver Allyn Marsh (born 1866).
MARSH, HENRY ELTHU, of Springfield, propri- etor of Cooley's Hotel, was born in Hatfield, May 30, 1846, son of Elihu and Mary A. (War- ren) Marsh. He was reared on the farm, and ed- ucated in the common school. At the age of twenty he left home, and came to Springfield, where he obtained a situation as office boy in Cooley's Hotel. From that time to the present he has been continuously engaged at Cooley's, working though every grade to the head of the es- tablishment. In 18SI he was taken into partner- ship by J. M. Cooley, the original landlord of the house (first opened in 1850); and in 1892 he assumed the entire management. Under his di- rection the house has been enlarged, and equipped with modern fittings. Mr. Marsh has served one
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term in the Springfield Common Council (1891). He is connected with the Masonic orders, mem- ber of the Roswell Lee Lodge and the Springfield
HENRY E. MARSH.
Commandery of Knights Templar, and is a mem- ber of the Winthrop Club. He was married in 1870 to Miss Mary L. Fisher, of Danielsonville, Conn. They have three boys : Edward Fisher, Philip Allen, and Harry Cooley Marsh.
MARSH, WILLIAM CHARLES, of Springfield, treasurer of Hampden County, is a native of Springfield, born February 13, 1862, son of Charles and Helen (Penniman) Marsh. He is a direct descendant of Cotton Mather. His father was a well-known citizen of Springfield, president of the Pynchon National Bank, and vice-president of the Springfield Institution of Savings at the time of his death, November 27, 1891. He was educated in the Springfield gram- mar and high schools, leaving the latter in his junior year to enter business, contrary to the wish of his father who, himself a college-bred man, graduate of Williams in the class of 1855, wanted him also to go to Williams. But he was anxious to get out into the world and earn his own living, although his father was a man of means, and
abundantly able to put him through college. While yet at school, he worked at odd hours, and after his fifteenth year was self-supporting. The first two years after leaving school he was in the Chicopee National Bank. Then for ten years he was with the Pynchon National Bank, while his father was its president, the greater portion of that period as paying teller ; and he resigned this position when he was elected to his present office of county treasurer in November, 1891. He has been treasurer also of numerous organizations, - of the Springfield Bicycle Club, the largest in the State, 1885-86 ; of the South Congrega- tional Church in 1888-89-90-91 ; of the Spring- field C'anoe Club in 1889-90 ; and of the Spring- field Cemetery Association since 1892 (elected December, 1891). From December, 1888, to May, 1891, he was United States disbursing agent for the government while building the new post-office at Springfield. In politics he is a Democrat.
WM. C. MARSH.
He is a member of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusetts, and of the local Bicycle and Winthrop clubs. He is unmarried.
MELLEN, JAMES HENRY, of Worcester, editor, and identified with labor interests, is a native of
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Worcester, born November 7, 1845, son of James and Margaret (Brennan) Mellen. He is of Irish ancestry. He was educated in the Worcester pub- lic schools, and his training for active life was in an iron foundry and the debating society. Early taking an interest in politics and writing for the press, he became a recognized leader in working- men's and kindred movements when yet a young man. Since the late seventies he has been a con- spicuous member of the lower house of the Legis- lature .- five years representing the Twenty-third Worcester District, and seven the Twenty-second, -and for two years (1887-88) he was prominent in the Worcester Common Council. In the Legis- lature he has served on the committees on labor, prisons, public charitable institutions, convict labor, mercantile affairs, revision of the statutes, railroads, rules, taxation, and special committees on finance, expenditures, and revision of the tax code ; and has introduced and advocated numer- ous labor measures. In his second term (1878) he introduced the order for legislation requiring that children under thirteen years of age before being employed in manufacturing establishments must be able to read and write. The next year he put in the order for municipal weekly payments, upon which the first weekly payment bill which be- came a law in the State was reported ; in 1881 he introduced a secret-ballot bill ; in 1886 an arbi- tration bill, also an order for legislation requiring the placing of guards on freight cars; and in 1888 a bill establishing a ten-hour day for street railway employees, and an order to make Labor Day a legal holiday. He introduced the first order on municipal lighting, which was supported by Edward Bellamy, Rev. Edward E. Hale, and others ; he was instrumental in modifying the trustee process ; the famous ten-hour law could not be enforced until he caused the word " wilful " to be stricken out, in 1879 ; he agitated separa- tion of grade crossings for years, and introduced the first order on the subject in 1881, requiring railroads to pay all of the expense ; and he was on the legislative committee sent to Washington to protect railroad employees in 1892. Through his influence the committee of the Legislature on labor, which until 1881 had been only a " special " committee, was changed to a regular joint stand- ing committee. During the administration of Gov- ernor Butler he was a member of the Tewks- bury Almshouse Investigation Committee, and had a hand in the minority report sustaining the
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