USA > Massachusetts > Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts > Part 56
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water power among the manufacturing corpora- tions. He has held no remunerative political offices, but since the reorganization of the Massa- chusetts State Board of Health, by Governor Robinson in 1886, he has been a member of that board and chairman of its committee on water- supply and sewerage ; and as such he carried on the investigation and prepared the report in ac- cordance with which the Metropolitan Sewerage System has been constructed. He also designed the Lawrence Experiment Station of the board, where its experiments upon the purification of sewage and of water have been carried on for
HIRAM F. MILLS.
seven years under his direction. He designed and directed the construction of the filter-bed for Lawrence by which the drinking-water of the city. received from the Merrimac River, is purified. and deaths within the city from typhoid fever and other diseases communicated by polluted drink- ing-water have been very much reduced. On account of his public services Harvard College in 1889 conferred upon him the honorary degree of A.M. In 1877 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Since 1885 he has been a member of the corporation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and for several years chairman of its committee on
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mechanical engineering and applied mechanics. He is also a member of the visiting committee of the Lawrence Scientific School. He is a director of the Essex Savings Bank ; president of the Law- rence Line Company; and a director of the Theo- logical School of the New Jerusalem Church. He has published many professional papers and essays, among them "Water Power of the United States " ( 1867), " Experiments upon Cen- tral Discharge Water Wheels " (1870), " Experi- ments upon Piezometers used in Hydraulic Experi- ments " ( 1878). " Protection of the Town of West- field from Future Floods" ( 1879), "Construction of the Pacific Mills Chimney " ( 1885), " The Pro- tection of the Purity of Inland Waters " ( 1887), " Purification of Sewage by applying it to Land " ( 1888). " Report of the State Board of Health upon the Sewerage of the Mystic and Charles River Valleys " (1889), "A Classification of the Drinking Waters of the State " (1890). " Report of the State Board of Health on Filtration of Sewage and of Water and Chemical Precipitation of Sewage " (1890), " Purification of Sewage and of Water by Filtration " ( 1893), " The Filter of the Water-supply of the City of Lawrence, and its Results " (1894), and memoirs of Mr. John (. Hoadley and Mr. James B. Francis. Mr. Mills was married October 8, 1873, to Miss Elizabeth Worcester.
MINOR, WESLEY LYNG, of Brockton, archi- teet, was born in Franklin. St. Mary's Parish, La .. January 8, 1851, son of John W. and Mary (Lyng) Minor. When he was a lad of seven, the family moved North to New Bedford; and his early edu- cation was attained there in public schools. Later a second removal was made to the town of Marion, where he attended the High School; and after his graduation the family was established in Middle- boro, where he received a partial training for his profession in after years. He first, however, learned the carpenter's trade as an apprentice to his father, who had resumed this trade which he had followed early in life and had abandoned for the study and practice of the profession of den- tistry ; and the study of architecture was begun while working at carpentry. His first teacher was Professor Hamblin, a retired architect, who was then in charge of a department at Pierce Academy in the town. After taking a three years' course in drawing and elementary architecture, he went to Boston, where he was employed in the archi-
tect's office of William R. Ware. A few months later he went to Philadelphia, and entered the office of J. McArthur, Jr., the well-known architect of the new City Hall in that city, and after a year's experience there he found an opening in the office of Richard H. Hunt, of New York, where he remained another year : then he engaged in practice, first establishing himself in Charles- ton, S.C. He soon, however, moved West, and, opening offices in Topeka, Kan., and Denver, Col .. conducted a flourishing business in both places. A few years after, his health failing, he was obliged to leave Kansas, and, going to Kentucky.
W. L. MINOR.
settled temporarily in the town of Catlettsburg, which had been visited by a serious fire. He re- mained there about a year, and during that time practically rebuilt the town, replacing the burned wooden buildings with substantial brick structures. He next returned to the East. and was for two years and a half established in his boyhood home at New Bedford. Having then entered into an agreement with a New York architect to open an office in Newport, R.I., he started one day from Boston to Newport, and stopped off at Brockton to transact some business. Becoming interested in the place, and concluding that it offered prom- ise of good architectural work, he lost no time in
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communicating with his New York friend, and pro- posed a partnership for business here instead of in Newport. The proposition was declined, but he decided to stay and practise alone. This was in 1882 ; and he has been in constant practice with headquarters here since, building most of the notable buildings and residences in the city and neighborhood. Examples of his work are the Brockton City Hall. the Washburn and Howard blocks, the Enterprise, Home Bank, and Bixby buildings, the residences of Ziba C. Keith. C'alch H. Packard, Dr. E. E. Dean, William 1 .. Douglas, and numerous others in Brockton ; and the Middleborough High School. He also pre- pared the plans for the Broadway High School in Everett and the High School in Wichita, Kan. In politics Mr. Minor has been a lifelong Demo- crat, but he has never held or aspired to office. He is a member of the Electric Lodge of (dd Fellows of Brockton. He was married October 10. 1876, to Miss Ella C. Nickerson, of Cotuit. They have three children: Wesley ( .. Rose S .. and S. Vernon Minor.
MONK, ELISHA CAPEN, of Stoughton, manu- facturer and merchant. is a native of Stoughton. born April 25, 1828, son of George Randall and Sarah (Capen) Monk. His ancestors on both sides were Puritans. His mother was the daugh- ter of Deacon Elisha Capen, whose wife. Milly Gay, was a woman remarkable for industry and amiability, -- she taught school before marriage. spun cloth from flax raised on her father's farm in Stoughton, took it on horseback to Boston, sold it, and purchased a silk wedding dress from the proceeds,- and lived to the age of ninety-seven years, seven months. His great-grandfather, George Monk, was at Dorchester Heights, and served in Colonel Benjamin Gill's regiment under Washington. His great-great-great-grandfather. Elias Monk, enlisted from the town of Dorchester in the Canadian War in 1690. Elisha (. received a public school education, supplemented by pri- vate instruction in Latin and rhetoric by the Rev. William M. Cornell. an educator contemporary with Horace Mann. He learned the trade of boot-making, and in 1856 began the manufacture of boots and shoes for the California trade. In later years he was interested in the dry-goods trade at Greeley, Col., and at Colorado Springs, for a long period. His public career began in 1857,
when he represented his native town in the lower house of the State Legislature. He was instru- mental in the passage of the bill of that year making the term of members of school committees three years each, and served on the committee first districting the State into senatorial and rep- resentative districts in accordance with the con- stitutional amendments that year ratified. In 1866 and 1867 he was a member of the State Sen- ate, and served on the committee on the treasury. During the Civil War he was active in promoting the cause of the Union. He visited the army and camped with the soldiers on the Rappahan-
ELISHA C. MONK.
nock in 1862, and was on the battlefield of Gettys- burg before the dead were buried. when in com- pany with a party, of whom the late Phillips Brooks was one, he visited the hospitals, and travelled over the entire battle-ground in one day. At the time of the last call for men to fill the quota of Stoughton, his prompt action resulted in a speedy completion of the business. Learning that there were to be obtained in Washington thirty-four emancipated slaves, he telegraphed to the Hon. Oakes mes, then representing the Congressional district, asking what bounty was required to se- cure these men. The answer was seventy-five hundred dollars, the money subject to draft at
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once. Thereupon he authorized Mr. Ames to draw on him for this amount. Squads of the en- rolled men were then organized, and in three days the money was raised and the quota filled. Dur- ing the years 1889 and 1890 Mr. Monk served on the Board of Selectmen of Stoughton as chairman. He has also served the town on a number of im- portant committees, notably those for building the Town House and the Drake School-house, and that on park. In 1870 he joined the Union Colony to settle in the new West of which Horace Greeley was treasurer, and was of the founders of the town of Greeley, fifty-four miles north of Den- ver, Col. He was, with Judge Plato, of Illinois (who was one of the presidential electors for Illi- nois, voting for Abraham Lincoln in 1860), a com- mittee to make the division and subdivisions of land, comprising in all 12,500 acres, for the col- ony. The historian of the town gives him the credit of having inserted in the deeds of the col- ony to individuals the provision prohibiting the manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage on the lands deeded,-these to revert to the town in case of violation. The following year, a similar provision being inserted in the deeds given at Colorado Springs, it was there contested as unconstitutional ; and, after the Territorial and State courts had passed upon the matter, it was carried to the United States Supreme Court, where it was confirmed as valid and binding. Mr. Monk regards this as one of the grandest achieve- ments of his life, its practical effect having been to eliminate from this tract of land all sale and manufacture of intoxicating liquors, and greatly to advance the prosperity of the people. In his na- tive town Mr. Monk has always been foremost in the van of progress, advocating the building of town hall, high school, library, water-works, new roads, and other improvements. He is a mag- netic public speaker, and has been heard on nu- merous important occasions. In 1869 he deliv- ered the first address before Post 72 of the Grand Army of the Republic, which received high com- mendation. It was subsequently printed, and is now in the Public Library. He was for many years a member of the Sons of Temperance. In politics he first voted the Free Soil ticket, and subsequently became a Republican. He is now a member of the Society of the Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution. He was married January 13, 1852, to Miss Sallie Brett French. Their children are : George, Bertha L., and Eunice C. Monk.
MORRIS, EDWARD FRANKLIN, of Monson, banker, is a native of Monson, born July 25, 1840, son of George F. and Sarah A. (Morse) Morris. He is in the seventh generation from Edward Morris, born at Waltham Abbey, Essex County, England, August, 1630, who came to New Eng- land in 1652, and settled in Roxbury, the line running as follows : Edward Morris (married No- vember, 1655, to Grace Bett), Edward Morris, 20, born in Roxbury, March, 1658 (married May 24, 1683, to Elizabeth Bowen), Edward Morris, 3d, born in Roxbury, November 9, 1688 (married January 12, 1715, to Bithiah Peake), Isaac Morris,
E. F. MORRIS.
born in Woodstock, Conn., March 26, 1725 (mar- ried October, 1748, to Sarah Chaffee), Edward Morris, 4th, born in Woodstock, Conn., December 12, 1756 (married March 28, 1782, to Lucy Bliss), Edward Morris, 5th, born in South Wilbraham, Mass., July 21, 1784 (married June 27, 1808, to Mercy Flynt), and George F. Morris, born at South Wilbraham, May 4, 1814 (married May 15. 1839, to Sarah A. Morse). Mr. Morris was edu- cated in the public schools and at the Monson Academy. He entered the Monson Bank as clerk on June 15, 1857, being then nearly seven- teen years of age, and remained there until the first of January, 1864, when he took the post of
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book-keeper in the Agawam Bank of Springfield. On the first of April following, however, he was elected cashier of the Monson Bank, and returned to Monson. This position he has held continu- ously from that time, and has been a director of the bank since 1871. He was also treasurer of the Monson Savings Bank from its organization. June 1, 1872, to June 1. 1893, both banks occupy- ing the same vault and banking-rooms. On the latter date the two banks were separated: and. resigning the treasurership of the Savings Bank, he was elected its president, which office he still holds. Both corporations have attained a degree of prosperity much beyond the average of similar institutions. Mr. Morris has had charge of the settlement of many estates, and filled important positions of a fiduciary character. He is much interested in educational matters. Hle was prin- cipally instrumental in the establishment of a Free Reading Room in 1874, resulting in the incorpo- ration of the Monson Free Library in 1877. of which he has since served as a director ; and he has been a trustee of Monson Academy for nearly twenty-five years, the past seventeen years its treasurer, and for twenty-one years on its standing committee, of which he is now the chairman. In 1894 he was elected a corporate member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. He has been deacon of the Congrega- tional church of Monson since 1869. treasurer since 1861, and for nine years past superintendent of the Sunday-school. In politics he is Repub- lican. He is now serving his town as a member of its Board of Water Commissioners organized in 1894. He is connected with the Masonic order. member of the Dayspring Lodge, of which he was for two years master. Mr. Morris was married October 25. 1865, to Miss Louise J. Clapp, of Easthampton. They have had four children, three of whom are now living : Alice Amelia. Louise, and Edward L. Morris.
MORSE. ELIJAH ADAMS, of Canton. manufact- urer, member of Congress for the Twelfth Massa- chusetts District. is a native of Indiana, born in South Bend, but of an early New England family. His father, the Rev. Abner Morse. A. M., was a native of Medway. Mass., descending from Samuel Morse who settled in Dedham in 1635 ; and his mother, Hannah ( Peck) Morse, was born in New York State. His middle name " Adams" is a
family name, coming from the marriage of an an- cestor. Joseph Morse. of Sherborn, with Prudence Adams, of Braintree, now Quincy, a relative of the Presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. Eleven years after his birth the family returned to Massachusetts, and his early education was ac- quired here in the public schools of Sherborn and Holliston. Subsequently he attended the well- known old Boylston School in Boston. and finished at the Onondaga Academy in New York State. In his nineteenth year he enlisted for the Civil War. joining Company A, Fourth Massachusetts Infantry, as a private. and was with General But-
ELIJAH A. MORSE.
ler in Virginia for three months, and with General Banks nine months in Louisiana, The foundation of his fortune was laid when he was yet a boy. alone in a little shop in Sharon, during his school vacations, in the preparation of the stove polish which afterward became widely known under the name of the " Rising Sun." Upon his return from the army he joined his brother in the estab- lishment in Canton of the works for the manufact- ure of his stove polish, and this was rapidly de- veloped into an important industry. The factory now covers four acres of ground, and has a capacity of ten tons a day. Since September 1. 1888, Mr. Morse has been the sole proprietor of the busi-
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ness. Mr. Morse's public career began in the seventies, when he was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives of 1876, in which body he at once became prominent. In 1886 and 1887 he was a member of the State Sen- ate; in 1888 a member of the Executive Council ; and the latter year, while holding the position of councillor, was nominated and elected to Congress as the successor of John D. Long, by a plurality of thirty-six hundred and eighty votes. He has since served in the Fifty-first. Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses, and in the November elec- tions of 1894 was returned for a fourth term by an increased majority. As a State Senator, he was influential in advancing various reform measures, and, with other legislation, secured radical amend- ments to the laws for the protection of children and for the punishment of crimes against chastity. In Congress he has been identified with all the great measures advocated by the Republican party, and has made speeches on the floor of the House in favor of protection to American manu- facturers and American labor, in favor of sound finance, in favor of restricted immigration, against sectarian appropriations of public money, in favor of more stringent naturalization laws, in favor of the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands, in favor of memorializing the Russian government in be- half of the persecuted Jews, in favor of a non- partisan commission to investigate the alcoholic liquor traffic and its relations to pauperism, crime. insanity, taxation, and on many other important subjects. His politics have always been Republi- can. He has also been a life-long supporter of temperance measures, for many years a recognized leader in the temperance cause. He is interested in all matters pertaining to the public schools, and is a warm supporter of every effort for social re- form which he regards as genuine. He is a prac- tical philanthropist, and has given generously to various charities. The ground for the Canton Memorial Hall, the memorial tablets in the hall, and the bronze soldier on the green, in memory of those who fell in the Civil War, were his gifts to the town. He has frequently been heard on the public platform, in addresses on political, educa- tional, temperance, Grand Army, and religious topics, of which he has delivered more than two thousand in New England and other States. Mr. Morse is a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, of the Congregational Club, of the Norfolk Club, of Post 94 of the Grand
Army of the Republic, of the Sons of the Revo- lution, and has for many years been a deacon of the Congregational church in Canton. He was married on the ist of January. 1868, to Miss Fe- licia Vining, daughter of Samuel A. Vining, of Holbrook. They have three living children : Abner (born in 1870), Samuel (born 1876), and Benjamin (born 1878).
MOSELEY, SAMUEL ROBERT, of Hyde Park, proprietor of the Norfolk County Gazette, is a native of Ohio, born in Columbus, November 6, 1846, son of Thomas W. H. and Mary .1. ( Beckner ) Moseley. His grandparents were natives of Virginia, and removed to Kentucky in the early history of that State, where his parents were born. His father was a civil engineer and iron bridge builder, and during the Mexican war was adjutant-general of the State of Ohio. He was educated in the public grammar school. After leaving school, he entered the employ of the Moseley Iron Bridge and Roof Company of Bos- ton, and subsequently engaged in journalism, In
S. R. MOSELEY.
1873 he became part proprietor of the Norfolk County Gazette (one of the oldest newspapers published in Norfolk County, established in
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Dedham in 1813, and removed to Hyde Park in 1868), and in 1876 became full owner. He has for many years been prominent in Hyde Park affairs. In 1872 he was one of the auditors of the town : in 1885 and again in 1887 represented Hyde Park in the State Legislature, serving both years on the committee on railroads, and the latter year on the special committee on investiga- tion of child labor ; and from 1890 to 1894 was postmaster of Hyde Park. He is a Freemason, member of Blue Lodge, Council and Chapter : an Odd Fellow, member of Forest Lodge: also a member of the Neponset Tribe of Red Men, of the Knights of Honor. No. 437, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. His club associations are with the Hyde Park and Waverley clubs of Hyde Park, the Boston Press ('lub, and the Sea Serpent Club. In politics he is a Republican. He was married June 10. 1870, to Miss Caroline M. Brown, of Andover. They have no children.
MOULTON. EDGAR SEWALL, of Fitchburg, contractor and builder, is a native of Maine. born in Wells Beach, September 11. 1857, son of William Donnell and Olive (Springer) Moulton. lle is a descendant of Thomas Moulton, who came from the town of Moulton. Norfolk County. England, in 1635 and settled in Newbury, Mass. His father, born in York, Me., in 1808, was a prominent ship-builder at Wells for forty years, and built many vessels during that time. His mother was a native of Kennebunk. He was ed- ucated in the common and high schools, and first learned the ship carpenter's trade at Wells. When still a young man, he followed the sea for two and a half years. Subsequently he worked some time at the house carpenter's trade in Lynn and Boston. He came to Fitchburg in May. 1882. and. engaging in building operations, soon became a most successful contractor and builder. He is also prominent in the management of the Fitch- burg Co-operative Bank as a director and member of the investment committee. He early took an interest in municipal affairs, and in 1893 was elected mayor of the city for 1894. After a most successful administration and a strict enforcement of the "no license" law, he was re-elected December 4 by the largest vote ever cast for mayor in the history of the city. He is economi- cal. but progressive. and recognized by his con- stituents as clearly a man of the people. In
politics he is an Independent. He is connected with the order of Odd Fellows and the United American Mechanics: and is a member also of
EDGAR S. MOULTON.
the Young Men's Christian Association, of the Board of Trade, of the Merchants' Association, of the Fitchburg Historical Society. and of the Fitchburg Athletic Club. Mayor Moulton was married October 16, 1893. to Miss Martha (. Cobb, of Fitchburg.
NASH, REV. MELVIN SHAW, of North Han- over, pastor of the First Universalist Church of Norwell, was born in Abington, August 3. 1857. son of Merritt and Betsey (Shaw) Nash. Start- ing with the training of the public schools of Abington, he acquired a liberal education under private instructors and through extensive reading methodically pursued. He also attended courses at the Dartmouth Summer School of Science. His professional life was begun as a public school teacher, first in the Abington schools ( 1877-78). and afterwards for thirteen years (from 1878 to 1891) as principal of the Hanover High School. In 1891 he entered into business relations with the Hon. Jedediah Dwelley, of Hanover, at the same time continuing literary work, in which he
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had engaged while teaching, and his studies for the ministry. The next year, after having preached for two years under a license from the
MELVIN S. NASH.
Massachusetts Universalist Convention, he was ordained as a minister in the Universalist Church, and called to the pastorate of the Norwell society where he has since been settled. In 1894 he represented his district ( Hanover and Rockland) in the lower house of the Legislature, where he served on the committee on public health. In politics he is a Republican. He is active in public affairs, and concerned in educational and other interests in his town. He has been chair- man of the Hanover Library committee since 1888. He belongs to the order of Odd Fellows. a member of North River Lodge, in which he has served as noble grand. He is most interested in literary pursuits, in which he has spent the greater portion of his life thus far ; and he is proud of the fact that so much of his success in literary things has been due to his own efforts, he being to a great extent a self-educated man. Mr. Nash was married October 27, 1881, to Miss Josephine S. Dwelley, of Hanover. They have no children.
PACKARD, DEWITT CLINTON, of Brockton, city clerk, was born in North Bridgewater (now
Brockton), September 22, 1836, son of Washburn and Hannah (Packard) Packard. He is de- scended from Samuel Packard, who came to this country from England among the earlier settlers : and on his mother's side from John Alden of Pil- grim fame. He received his early education in common schools and academies, and studied out of school, reading somewhat of the classics, Greek and Roman, and taking French and German under native teachers. Some time after leaving school he worked with and assisted his father in the latter's business of shoe manufacturing, and then became a school-teacher. He was chosen principal of the Academy at Plympton about the year 1859, and served there two years, resigning in 1861. He also taught in common schools. In 1862 he re-entered the shoe business, and contin- ued in it successfully for a number of years. In 1865, forming a copartnership with Oliver F. Leach, under the firm name of Leach & Packard, he engaged in the manufacture of shoes for the Southern and Western trade. This partnership held until 1871, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Packard continued alone, manufacturing mainly
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