Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 69

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 69

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PRATT, GEORGE HENRY, of Newton, editor and proprietor of the Newton Journal, was born in Newton, March IS, 1857, son of Joseph R. and Elizabeth Parker (Ward) Pratt. His ancestors were early settlers in Boston and Chelsea ; and the old family homestead, dating from 1670, is still standing in Prattville, Chelsea. He was educated in the public schools of Newton. He entered the employ of the then publishers of the Newton Jour- nal when a boy of thirteen years, and learned the printing trade in all its branches and the general work of a weekly newspaper. Subsequently he became a stenographic reporter, and practised in the courts in Boston, at the State House, and elsewhere. He also held the position of general

reporter of the Boston Daily News for some time under E. D. Winslow ; was reporter on the Boston Post for five years, reporter on the Boston Journal

GEO. H. PRATT.

for thirteen years, and was employed on the Bos- ton Advertiser and the Evening Record as Newton correspondent. Meanwhile he rose from compos- itor to reporter and then to editor of the Newton Journal, and in 1882 purchased the entire news- paper and job printing establishment. In later years he added new machinery, twice enlarged the paper, changed it from a folio to a quarto; and to-day it is considered one of the leading weeklies in the suburbs of Boston. Mr. Pratt is a member of the Massachusetts Suburban Press Association, of the Massachusetts Republican Ed- itorial Association, and of several Newton organi- zations, including the Newton Council, American Legion of Honor, the Channing Council, Royal Arcanum, and the Newton Lodge, Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics he is a Repub- lican. He was married in 1876, and has three daughters. He resides in Newton, where he is largely interested in real estate, and has a sum- mer residence at Winthrop.

RANSOM, COLONEL CHAUNCEY MONROE, of Boston, editor and publisher of the Standard, an

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insurance journal, is a native of New York, born in Lancaster, Erie County, April 18, 1831. son of Robert and Orrana (Monroe) Ransom. On the paternal side he is of English ancestry, and on the maternal of Scotch. He received a good educa- tion, principally at the Genesee and Wyoming Academy, Alexander, N.Y. At the age of seven- teen he became a school-teacher, teaching through the winter months, and from that time was hard at work at other occupations during the year. For a while after his experience at school-teaching he was engaged in mercantile pursuits, soliciting fire insurance at odd hours, until in 1856 he removed

C. M. RANSOM.

to Chicago, and established himself in the manu- facturing business. Two years later he was over- come by the panic, and moved to Cincinnati, where he soon became active as the secretary of the Cincinnati Home Fire Insurance Company, re- maining in this position until 1867, when he was made vice-president of the Home Mutual Life In- surance Company, and two years later engaged with the Missouri Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany of St. Louis. His first entry into the jour- nalistic field was made in 1871, in September of that year purchasing a half-interest in the Balti- more Underwriter. He retained his connections with that journal until March, 1878, when he sold

his interest, and purchased the Index, at that time published monthly in Boston. This he conducted on its original lines for four years, then renamed it the Standard, and on the first day of January, 1883, changed it to a weekly. Under his direc- tion it has been a prosperous journal and one of the most enterprising newspapers in its special field. Outside of the Standard Colonel Ransom's most notable work has been in connection with the organization of life underwriters' associations. He has been called the father of the association movement and " godfather of the national associa- tion." He was the originator of the Boston Life Underwriter Association, and called the meetings for its organization, which were held in the Stand- ard editorial rooms early in 1883 ; and he inspired the organization of the National Association of Life Underwriters, which was accomplished in 1889. As the pioneer in this movement, he did much without compensation, travelling far and wide, making many addresses, and organizing numerous local associations ; and " that his efforts are appreciated by the life insurance fraternity," the Insurance Post of Chicago has remarked, "is evident from the reception and banquet tendered to him by the Boston association in 1891, and also from the resolutions of thanks that he has received from nearly every association in the country." He is distinguished as the only hono- rary member of the National Association. Colo- nel Ransom is also a member of the New York Insurance Club, of the New York Democratic Club, the Boston Press Club, and the Newton Club of Newton. In politics he is a Democrat. He was married April 22, 1852, to Miss Celina M. Standart. They have had three children : Robert W. (now night editor of the Chicago Tribune), Julia E., and Emily A. Ransom (the latter now treasurer of the Standard Publishing Company).

REED, REV. JAMES, of Boston, minister of the Boston Society of the New Jerusalem for thirty- four years, is a native of Boston, born December 8, 1834, son of Sampson and Catharine (Clark) Reed. His Father was the youngest son of the Rev. John Reed, D.I)., of Bridgewater, was gradu- ated at Harvard in ISis, and was a well-known citizen of Boston, being for many years a member of the School Committee and also an alderman in the days when that office was considered a real honor. He was the author of a book, "The

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Growth of the Mind," which has been widely read, and of many magazine articles. James Reed was educated in private schools till the age of twelve, when he entered the Boston Latin School, in which he remained four years. From the Latin School he entered Harvard, and there graduated in the class of 1855. After graduation he taught for one year as an usher in the Latin School, and at the end of that time began to study for the ministry. This was done privately, as there was at that time no theo- logical school connected with the Church of the New Jerusalem, to which he belonged. In April, 1858, he was licensed to preach, and in the autumn

JAMES REED.

following entered the service of the " Boston Society of the New Jerusalem,"- the church wor- shipping on Bowdoin Street, Boston,-the Rev. Thomas Worcester, pastor. In April, 1860, he was ordained and installed as assistant minister. In 1866 Dr. Worcester resigned ; and in January, 1867, Mr. Reed became sole pastor, which position he has held ever since. keeping the church in healthful condition and preaching to well-filled pews. He has also been a frequent contributor to the literature of his denomination, and has been concerned in numerous activities. He has been a director of the General Theological Library, is at present a director of the Society for the Preven-

tion of Cruelty to Children, and president of the Massachusetts Home for Intemperate Women. For four years (1871-75) he served on the Boston School Board. He is a member of the Union Club of Boston, the Harvard Musical Association, Phi Beta Kappa Society, and other organizations. Mr. Reed was married December 19, 1858, to Miss Emily E. Ripley. They have had six chil- dren : Catharine Clark, John Sampson, Gertrude, Miriam, Josephine Smith, and Emily Elizabeth. Five of them. the son and four daughters, are still living.

REXFORD, REV. EVERETT LEVI, pastor of the First Universalist Church of Roxbury from 1888 to 1894 inclusive, was born in Chautauqua, N. Y., April 24, 1842, son of Levi and Lurancy (Doud) Rexford. He is of English, Scotch, and Irish blood. His father was a minister in the Free Baptist Church, and preached in that denomina- tion for upwards of fifty years. He attended the common schools of Western New York till he was fifteen years old, then Professor Wedge's special school in Panama, N. Y., took the academic course in the Jamestown Academy, and, entering St. Lawrence University, Canton, N. Y., graduated there in 1865. He was reared in the Evangelical faith, but became doubtful of its tenets during his academie years ; and, on leaving the university, he found himself a confirmed Universalist. He entered upon his ministry in 1865, at Cincinnati. Ohio. After being chosen to the pastorate there, he returned to his native county of Chautauqua, and married Miss Julia M. George, second daughter of the Hon. and Rev. Isaac George, in Dunkirk. He remained in Cincinnati four years, when he was called to the Universalist Church in Colum- bus, Ohio. From there he went to San Francisco, Cal., in 1874, where he remained four years, when he accepted the presidency of Buchtel College. and the pastorate of the Universalist church, at Akron, Ohio. The church and college were then at war with each other; and, having friends in both parties, he was called to the head of each, secur- ing harmony and building the church edifice. fn ISSo he resigned both positions to accept the direction of the new church movement in Detroit, Mich. His service in this field covered eight years. In 1888 he accepted the call from the Roxbury Universalist church. Toward the close of 1894 he visited Columbus with a view to secure medical treatment for his wife, who had been a

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helpless invalid for the year past, at the sanitarium of Dr. Shepard, where she had once received great benefit ; and, the pulpit of his former parish there being vacant, he was recalled to it, and, accepting the invitation, he closed his pastorate at Roxbury with the year, to the great regret of his parishion-

ers. As a preacher, Dr. Rexford is regarded by his friends as remarkable in many ways. "His peculiar charm," writes one who has given his work close study. "is not easily explained. It is made up of many parts. An attractive presence in the pulpit or on the platform, a voice of delicate sweetness and sympathy, trained and modulated

EVERETT L. REXFORD.

so as easily to touch every note of feeling, pur- pose, or passion, an easy grasp of the central truth of a topic, with power to group around it its cor- relative truths in their natural relations and pro- portions, felicity of expression, and earnestness of conviction, together with an intense desire that others may see as he sees and feel as he feels,- all these conspire to make him one of the most interesting pulpit orators of our time." He is en- dowed with great power of work, and lends him- self with cheerfulness to every cause and friend with whose purposes and principles he is in sym- pathy. Of the two wings which have been devel- oped in the Universalist Church, the conservative

and the radical, or liberal, Dr. Rexford is an active member in the latter, and is generally recognized as its leader. He holds that religion has its root in human nature, and is only one phase of the providential education of the world. Conse- quently, he recognizes the unity of all religions, and lay's great stress upon the idea that, though Jesus was the greatest religious light which the world ever saw, yet there were teachers and proph- ets before he came, and that every great soul in any age who points to heaven and leads the way is a servant and prophet of God. Mr. Rexford received the degree of D.D. from Buchtel College in 1874. He was a member of the Advisory Committee of the World's Parliament of Religions, and was one of the contributors to the literature of that enterprise, reading a paper on " The Re- ligious Intent," which appears in the official re- ports. He has been for years a constant writer for the various periodicals and papers published by his denomination. Dr. Rexford's first wife died in San Francisco in 1877. Two years later he married Miss Amanda Pleasants, daughter of the late Daniel G. Pleasants, of Bowling Green, Ky. By his first wife he has one daughter, Maye, now the wife of William J. Shilliday, of Boston. His second wife died November 25, 1894, in Columbus, Ohio.

ROBINSON, FRANK TORREY, of Boston, art critic and author, is a native of Salem, born July 16, 1845, son of Edward R. and Nancy L. P. (Tuck) Robinson. He is of English Quaker stock. His paternal grandfather, John R. Robin- son, fought against England in the War of IS12, and, being captured, taught school in Dartmouth prison. An arithmetic which he wrote is among his grandson's treasures. He was also quite a botanist. Frank T. was educated in Charlestown, where he attended the Harvard and Warren schools,-having as classmates in the former William E. Norton, the marine artist, and Major William H. Hodgkins, now mayor of Somerville, - and later, in Boston, taking a course in English literature at Professor Spear's college, situated next to Tremont Temple, but now extinct. In his sixteenth year he enlisted in the Fifth Regi- ment, Company H, Massachusetts Volunteers, and served thirteen months in the Civil War, in North Carolina and Virginia. Returning, he en- tered the office of the Boston Advertiser, then

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under Charles Hale, editor, and about a year alter took up his studies in Professor Spear's college. These completed, he was some time em- ployed in a wholesale grocery store. Falling into ill-health, he withdrew from business, and spent about two years in a blacksmith's shop, and so built up a fine muscular system. Then he took up book-keeping, and also news correspondence for various papers. From this work the step to regu- lar journalism was easy; and he soon undertook local reporting for the Boston Journal, the Boston Advertiser, and the Bunker Hill Times. In 1875 he began art writing. From 1879 to 1883 he was

FRANK T. ROBINSON.

editor of the Boston Times. For three years he was art director for the New England Manufact- urers' Institute. Subsequently he became art critic for the Boston Traveller, and later for the Boston Post, the Art Interchange of New York, and other publications. He was also editor of the American Art Magasine during its career from 1886 to 1888. While holding these various posi- tions, Mr. Robinson has been a frequent con- tributor to magazines and a writer of books. His publications embrace a "History of the Fifth Regiment, M. V. M.," the " Art Year Book," " Art Catalogue, 1883," "Quaint New England," and "Living New England Artists." Of his services

in behalf of American art, both in a literary way and by more direct means, one who is well qualified to speak says that "they have been of real value to the artists and to the community. He has shown always, but more particularly of recent years, a fine and unerring instinct for what is sound and permanent and worthy in works of art ; and it is this intuition, aided by patient and loving study in the museums and studios. that has made him a superior art critic." Mr. Robinson is now curator of literature, Metropolitan Art Museum, New York. After the war he continued his connection with the State militia for some years, serving as sergeant of Company A, Fifth Regiment, from 1869 to 1872. He is a member of the Melrose Highland Club, and was its vice- president for several terms. In politics he is a Republican, though not of an aggressive nature. He was married November 1, 1871, to Miss Mary Jane Tufts, of Somerville. They have three chil- dren : Frank Tufts, Charlotte May, and Flora Louise Robinson.

ROBLIN, REV. STEPHEN HERBERT, of Boston, pastor of the Second Universalist Church, of which the Rev. Dr. Alonzo A. Miner is senior pastor, was born in Picton, Ontario, October 4, 1858, son of Joseph Ryerson and Rachel Louise (Reynolds) Roblin. He is a descendant of Daniel Roblin, a native of Holland, who settled in Plym- outh in 1620; and is connected with the Alli- sons, of English descent, who settled in New Jersey in the seventeenth century, with the Rey- noldses, English. settled in New York in the seventeenth century, and with the Clarks, English, settled also in New York in the same period. All of these families or their descendants removed to Canada as United Empire loyalists during the Revolution. Mr. Roblin was educated at the On- tario public schools, and at the St. Lawrence Uni- versity, Canton, N.Y., where he was prepared for the ministry, and graduated in June, 1881. The following July he was settled at Genoa, N. Y., and remained there two years, when he accepted a call to Victor, N.Y. In February, 1885, he be- came pastor of the Universalist Church at Bay City, Mich., and was there engaged in a successful ministry when called to the Second Universalist Church in Boston, having previously. in Novem- ber, 1890, received a call to the First Universalist Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., which he declined.

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His pastorate in Boston began on the ist of January, 1892, and has been marked by breadth and scholarship in pulpit work, and devotion to

STEPHEN HERBERT ROBLIN.

all the varied pastoral duties of a large and im- portant parish. His parishioners have shown their appreciation of his work by large increase of salary each year of his sojourn here. Mr. Roblin has been a prominent member of a body of Cana- dian Annexationists for many years. He is a member of the " Committee of One Hundred" of Boston, is a director of the Boston Association of Universalists, a trustee of the Massachusetts Universalist Convention, and has been on the Board of Visitors of Tufts College since residing in Boston. He is a Freemason, member of the Knights Templar, Consistory thirty-second de- gree. Mr. Roblin was married July 31, 1882, at Auburn, N.Y., to Miss Lillian Isabel Lynes. They have two children : Wilbur Frederick (born at Victor, N.Y., June 27, 1883) and Herberta Rob- lin (born at Bay City, Mich., November 29, 1890).

RISTEEN, FREDERICK SAMUEL, of Boston, proprietor of the Copley Square Hotel, is a native of New Brunswick, born in Jacksonville, August 28, 1839, son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Brown) Ris-

teen. His father was born in Nova Scotia, and his mother in New Brunswick. His maternal grandfather, a native of England, was a captain in the English army, and served in this country in the war of the Revolution. His maternal grand- mother was born in St. John, N.B. He was edu- cated in the grammar schools of Fredericton, N.B. He began active life as a clerk and soon after proprietor of a wholesale and retail grocery business. Subsequently he entered the hotel business, and has been engaged continuously in that line for eighteen years. He has been propri- etor of the Copley Square Hotel, situated in the fine Back Bay quarter of Boston, since its open- ing in 1891. Mr. Risteen has also been promi- nent in public affairs for a long period. In 1872 and 1873 he was a member of the Common C'oun- cil of Boston; in 1875-76-77 an assistant asses- sor ; from 1878 to 1888, inclusive, a director for public institutions ; in 1883 and 1891 a State senator, representing the Fifth and Sixth Suffolk districts ; and is now (1895) a member of the State Commission to build the Medfield Insane Asylum. He is president of the Massachusetts

F. S. RISTEEN.

Hotel Men's Association, and first vice-president of the United States Hotel Men's Association. He belongs to the Odd Fellows, is a member of

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the Massachusetts Lodge, and is high in the Ma- sonie order, being a thirty-second degree Mason, member of St. Andrew's Chapter and Boston Commandery Knights Templar. He is a member of the Boston Athletic Club. He was married December 6, 1865, to Miss Susan M. Cloutman, of Boston. They have three children : Helen E .. Alvah C .. and Susan R. Risteen.

ROBERTS, EVEREST WILLIAM, member of the Suffolk bar, is a native of Maine, born in East Madison, November 22, 1858, son of Orin P. and

EVEREST W. ROBERTS.

Eliza V. (Dean) Roberts. His ancestors on both sides were among the earliest settlers of Maine. In 1864, when he was six years old, his parents removed to Charlestown, and the following year to Chelsea, where he has since resided. His educa- tion was acquired in the public schools of Charles- town and Chelsea and at the Highland Military Academy of Worcester, where he graduated in June, 1877. Shortly after he began the study of law, entering the Law School of Boston University, and at the same time studying in the office of the Hon. Ira T. Drew, ex-district attorney of York County, Maine. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1881, immediately upon his graduation from

the law school, and began practice the following autumn in Boston, where he has since continued, with the exception of one year (1889) in Cali- fornia engaged on an important land case, and seven months ( 1891-92) in Europe on legal busi- ness. Early in his career he became interested in political affairs, and from ISS4 to ISSS was a member of the Republican eity committee of Chel- sea, the last three years of that period serving as its secretary. In 1887 88 he was a member of the Chelsea Common Council, and in 1894-95 a member of the lower house of the Legislature. During his first term in the General Court he served on the committee on water supply. He is connected with the Masonie order, member of Shekiriah Chapter and Palestine Commandery, in both of which he has held various offices, of the Star of Bethlehem Lodge, and of Napthali Council, all of Chelsea. He is a member also of the Review and Alter Ego clubs of Chelsea, the Middlesex Club, and the Republican Club of Massachusetts. Mr. Roberts was married No- vember 13, 1881, at Albany, N. Y., to Miss Nella L. Allen. They have no children.

RUSSELL, CHARLES ALBERT, of Gloucester. member of the Essex bar, was born in Canton, Mass., March 18, 1855, son of Philemon R. and Elizabeth (Bell) Russell. His father was a native of Bath, Me., born in 1807 ; and his grandfather, Jesse Russell, was born in Cambridge, Mass., son of Philemon Robbins and Elizabeth (Wyman) Russell, who" was a daughter of Deacon David Wyman, of Woburn. His mother was daughter of James and Mary Bell, of Chester, N.H. His early education was acquired in the public schools of Lynn and at Houghton Academy, Bolton. He was fitted for college at Colgate Academy, Hamilton, N.Y., and entering Colby University, Waterville, Me., was graduated there with honor in 1876. He then pursued the regular course at Boston University Law School, from which he graduated in 1878, ranking second in scholarship in a elass of fifty-five. The next two years were spent as a student and assistant in the law office of the late Judge Charles P. Thompson at Gloucester. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1880, and has been engaged in active general practice since that time. In 1887 he assisted for the defence on the trial of Thomas Smith for murder. In 1892 he was junior coun-

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sel (with the Hon. E. T. Burley) for the will in the trial of the famous (Samuel E.) Sawyer will case, which involved an estate of nearly seven hundred thousand dollars and consumed nearly four weeks, and resulted in a verdict sustaining the will ; and in 1894 he was counsel for the city of Gloucester in its contest with the Gloucester Water Company before the Legislature for a water act. For the years 1892-93-94-95 he was city solicitor of Gloucester. He is an active member of several fraternal orders. In the order of Odd Fellows he is a past officer in lodge and encampment : has been for several years chair-

CHARLES A. RUSSELL.

man of the Board of Trustees of Ocean Lodge ; is now a member of the judiciary committee of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts; also deputy grand master for lodges in Salem, Beverly, and Lynn, and deputy grand patriarch for encamp- ments in Newburyport and Beverly. In the Im- proved Order of Red Men he was one of the charter members and the first sachem of Wingaer- sheek Tribe of Gloucester in 1886; was chief marshal of the Essex County Red Men's parade, and commanded the second division (composed of fraternal societies) in the parade in celebration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Gloucester in August, 1892 ; was

chairman for some years of the committee on law and usage of the Great Council of Massachusetts, and did the work of revising and codifying the laws of the Great Council and Tribes in 1892; was great sachem in 1889 ; has since been a great representative to the Great Council of the United States from Massachusetts, and is now chairman of the standing committee on grievances and appeals in that body. In the Masonic order he is of the Royal Arch degree and a Knight Templar, also a member of Aleppo Temple of the Mystic Shrine, Boston. He served for four years in the Second Corps of Cadets, Salem, and is now a member of the Veteran Cadet Association. He has been president of the Commonwealth Club of Gloucester, the leading social club of that city. from 1889 to 1894 inclusive ; and he is a member of the Young Men's Democratie Club of Massachusetts and of the University Club, Boston. Mr. Russell is unmarried.

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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 69

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