Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 71

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 71

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in the Agawam Bank Building, and then returned to Palmer to attend more closely to his private in- terests there. During 1892 and 1893 he had

HOMER C. STRONG.

charge of the editorial department of the Palmer Herald. Interested and active in politics. but not as a candidate or aspirant for office, he has gen- erally been a delegate to political conventions for many years, and often served on town, county. and senatorial committees. He is in demand as a campaign orator. and was especially active on the stump in the campaign of 1888. speaking fre- quently in various parts of his section of the State. A Republican until 1886, he became a Cleveland Democrat through dissatisfaction at the treatment of James G. Blaine by his party, and also at its high tariff tendencies, and. having little sympathy with that independence called " Mug- wumpery," has acted since entirely with the Democratic party. He has been active in en- couraging the literary and educational interests and the business growth of Palmer, and has been a frequent contributor to newspapers and other periodicals. From ISSo to 1883 he served on the School Committee of Palmer. He is a mem- ber of the Springfield Hampden Lodge of Free- masons and the Morning Star Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, the Springfield Council Royal and

Select Masters, the Springfield Commandery, Knights Templar, and of the Palmer Business and Social Club, the Palmer Board of Trade, and the Quabong Literary Circle. Mr. Strong was married at Thorndike, Palmer, January 10, 1883, by President Julius H. Seelye, of Amherst College, to Miss Lizzie M. Wilson, daughter of Cornelius Wilson, agent of the Thorndike Mills, and Sarah T. (Emery) Wilson. They have one daughter : Grace Cooke Strong (born in Spring- field, January 26, 1884).

TAPLEY, AMos PRESTON, of Lynn, shoe dealer, is a native of Lynn, born March 25, 1817, son of Amos and Elizabeth (Lye) Tapley. His edu- cation was acquired in the public schools and at the old Lynn Academy. He began business life when a lad of fourteen, employed in the boot and shoe warehouse of Josiah Peirce, of Boston ; and he has been in the trade ever since, one of the oldest of Boston's boot and shoe dealers. He re- mained with Mr. Peirce till 1837, when he entered business on his own account, establishing the firm

AMOS P. TAPLEY.

of Bingham & Tapley, wholesale boot and shoe dealers and jobbers. This continued till 1846, when Mr. Bingham retired on account of ill-

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health. Since that date the firm name has been Amos P. Tapley & Co., and for the past twenty years Mr. Tapley's son (Henry F.) has been as- sociated with him. Mr. Tapley was also presi- dent of the National City Bank of Lynn for a period of thirty-five years, from 1858 to 1893 in- clusive, when he retired; and for more than twenty years he was president of the Board of Commissioners of Pine Grove Cemetery, Lynn. He was prominently connected with the Mckay Sewing Machine Association of Boston, from its inception as a director, which machine revolu- tionized the manufacture of shoes, and is now president of the Stanley Manufacturing Company of Lawrence, which has a branch house in Ger- many. He has been long a trustee for numerous important estates, and has had the care of large interests. He was married in December, 1842, to Miss Adaline E. Fuller, of Lynn. She died in December, 1851, leaving one son : Henry F. Tapley. Mr. Tapley was married second in June, 1856, to Miss Anna S. Ireson, also of Lynn. By this union was one daughter: Alice Preston Tapley.

TERHUNE, WILLIAM LEWIS, of Boston, pub- lisher of the Boot and Shoe Recorder, is a native of New Jersey, born in Newark, October 30, 1850, son of Daniel J. and Maria L. (Wood) Terhune. On the paternal side he is of Huguenot stock, from a family which, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, fled to Holland. His ancestor Albert Terhune came to this country, some time in 1642, and settled at Gravesend, Long Island, N.Y. On both sides the family took an active part in the War of the Revolution. He was edu- cated in public and private schools in his native place, and there also began the study of law, first intending to follow the legal profession. But his inclinations towards journalism were stronger ; and before he had attained his majority he was fairly at work in it. In 1870 he was manager of the Merry Museum of Boston; from 1873 to 1874, one year, publisher of the New Hampshire Inde- pendent : in 1877 editor of the Auburn (Me.) Daily Herald; in 1878-79 on the Boston Globe. In 1882 he began the publication of the Boot and Shoe Recorder as a monthly, bringing out the first number on the first day of April. It was a small sheet of eight pages. Within the first year it was enlarged to twelve, sixteen, twenty, and twenty- four pages. On its first birthday it was made a

weekly publication with its own outfit of type. Two years later the first cylinder press was put in, and shortly after two more cylinders. It now has six cylinder presses. Its first office consisted of desk room at a rental of $75 a year; its sec- ond, a small room of its own ; its third, four large rooms. In 1887 four floors were required for its accommodation, the equipment then including five presses, a binding and a mailing plant. In 1892 the present Boot and Shoc Recorder Build- ing on Columbia Street was erected, - a structure of six stories, all of which the establishment oc- cupies with the exception of the store floor. The

W. L. TERHUNE.

paper has become the largest weekly trade jour- nal published in the world, and its circulation ex- tends over the country and abroad. Besides the Boston office, it has organized offices and man- agers in leading American cities, and branch offices in London, Paris, and Frankfort. Mr. Terhune has associated with him Charles H. Mc- Dermott. In politics Mr. Terhune is a Repub- lican, and has served as chairman of the Ward Twenty-four Republican Committee since 1893. He is president of the Royal Arcanum Club, vice- president of the American Trade Press Associa- tion, secretary of the Chickatawbut Club, and a member of the Middlesex, Algonquin, Old Dor-

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chester, Shawmut, and Boot and Shoe clubs ; an Odd Fellow, and member of the Knights of Pythias, the Red Men, Royal Arcanum, Home Circle, Royal Society of Good Fellows, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was married January 7, 1873, to Miss Nellie E. Littlefield, daughter of the late Deacon Daniel Littlefield, of Dover, N.H. They have one son and two daugh- ters : Everit B. (Boston Latin School, 1894, to enter Harvard 1895), Inez M., and Lillian H. Terhune.

VINTON, FREDERIC PORTER, of Boston, por- trait painter, was born in Bangor, Me., January 29, 1846, son of William Henry and Sarah Ward (Goodhue) Vinton. His father was a native of Providence, R.I., and his mother of Plymouth, N.H. He is of New England ancestry, the origi- nal stock probably French Huguenot. His edu- cation was acquired in the public schools of Chicago, Ill., to which city his parents moved when he was a child. He began active life at the age of fifteen as a clerk in the Boston business house of Gardner Brewer & Co., and remained in business until 1875; from 1862 to 1865 in the employ of C. F. Hovey & Co., from 1865 to 1870 in the National Bank of Redemption, and from 1870 to 1875 as book-keeper of the Massachu- setts National Bank, meanwhile studying art and painting pictures. His artistic studies were se- riously begun about the year 1863, by the ad- vice of the late William M. Hunt, who saw merit in his early drawings and crayons ; and after some time spent in the classes of the Lowell In- stitute he became a pupil of the late Dr. William Rimmer, also at Hunt's suggestion, and followed three full courses of art anatomy under his in- struction. With this training and his natural tal- ents Vinton's progress was steady and sure; and between the years 1865 and 1875, although still in mercantile pursuits, he became well known in Boston as an artist. In 1875 he first went abroad, and soon entered the atelier of Leon Bonnat in Paris, where he studied from the figure. The fol- lowing year he was a pupil of the Royal Academy of Munich, Bavaria ; and in 1877-78 a pupil of Jean Paul Laurens in Paris. In the Salon of the latter year he exhibited a figure piece, "Little Gypsy." which was painted for the late Thomas G. Appleton, and given by him to the city of Lowell, Mass. The French government also purchased a boy's head at the same exposition from Mr.

Vinton for the lottery. On his return from Europe in the autumn of 1878 he opened a studio in Winter Street, Boston, and soon after Thomas G. Appleton gave him his first commission for a portrait. Then followed portraits of Samuel H. Russell, Wendell Phillips, Causten Browne, and others, which added to his growing fame. In 1881 he took Hunt's studio in the quaint old building on the east corner of Park Square and Boylston Street, since removed, and here did some of his most notable work, including the Warren executed for a committee of citizens of Boston on the occasion of the retirement of the

FREDERIC P. VINTON

beloved comedian from the stage. In 1882 he again visited Europe, spending about four months in Spain, copying Velasquez. The year of the last Exposition in Paris (1889) he went abroad for a longer period,- eighteen months, - visiting Italy, Holland, England, and France. While in Paris, he painted a portrait of his wife, which was exhibited in the Salon of 1890, and was awarded "honorable mention" by the jury. The same portrait, with those of Professor C. C. Langdell, Augustus Flagg, and the late Theodore Chase, shown at the World's Columbian Exhibition, at Chicago, in 1893, was awarded a gold medal. The list of Mr. Vinton's principal portraits in-

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clude : Thomas G. Appleton, Francis Parkman (now in the St. Botolph Club House), Lord Play- fair, Wendell Phillips (original now in possession of Mrs. John C. Phillips, and a copy in Faneuil Hall, ordered by the city of Boston), Judge Otis P. Lord (now in the Salem Court House). General Charles Devens (in the Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.), Dr. A. P. Peabody (in posses- sion of his family), Professor C. C. Langdell (in Austin Hall, Harvard University). Dr. Henry J. Bigelow, Charles Francis Adams, William Warren (in the Art Museum, Boston), Dr. Samuel A. Green (in the Groton Public Library), George F. Hoar (in the Worcester Law Library), and many men prominent in business and in social circles in Boston. In 1882 Mr. Vinton was elected " Asso- ciate," and in 1891 " Academician" (National Academy of Design, New York). lle was elected a member of the Society of American Artists, New York, in ISSo. He was one of the original members of the St. Botolph Club and of the Tavern Club, and is also a member of the Papyrus Club, the Thursday Evening Club, and the Examiner Club, all of Boston. Ile was mar- ried in Newport, R. I., June 27, 1883, to Miss Annie M. Peirce, daughter of George Peirce, of that city. They have no children.

WAGNER, JACOR, of Boston, artist, is a native of Germany, born in Duthweiler, Bavaria, January 27, 1852, son of Frederick Wilhelm and Kath- erine (Tyring) Wagner. His father's parents, well-to-do farmers, died young. His mother's parents also were prosperous farmers, and her father and ancestors were prominent men in the town where he was born. He came to this coun- try with his parents when he was a child of four, and was educated in the public schools until twelve years of age, when on account of the death of his father in the Civil War he was obliged to leave school and go to work. As he displayed in childhood a decided talent for drawing, he natu- rally desired to become an artist ; but circumstances prevented the carrying out of plans of study of that kind, and he entered the art store of A. A. Childs & Co. to learn the trade of picture frame- making. After a year spent here, he left to accompany his mother to Germany to visit her parents. After an absence of about a year abroad. where he began art studies, he returned to Boston, and continued his trade with J. N. Lombard.

From there he soon after went to the store of Doll & Richards, where he found more time to pursue his studies in art. From the ordinary work of a frame-making establishment he gradually worked into restoring paintings, a step nearer to that upon which his heart was bent. Meanwhile he found a good friend in Mr. Doll, of the firm, who bought his first painting, - a dog's head. About the year 1874 he entered the school in the Lowell Institute ; and, after two years of study here two evenings a week, joined the life class at the Art Museum, where he studied and drew evenings, still working in the daytime at his trade for his

JACOB WAGNER.

living. At about this time he devoted every leis- ure moment to painting, taking the best teacher, Nature, as William M. Hunt advised him to do. He continued his drawing at the Zepho Club for several years, and finally at the Boston Art Club. After Mr. Doll's death he left the estab- lishment of Doll & Richards to start the art store of J. Eastman Chase on Hamilton Place, where he had charge of the manufacturing department and of the work of restoring paintings. In 1883 he finally started out for himself in a little room in the Phillips Building, Hamilton Place, where he devoted himself more directly to art, while getting his livelihood as a restorer of paintings, having

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now gained some reputation in this branch of work. It was a struggle for a while to support a family of six from his slender earnings ; but he persevered, painting landscapes and occasionally taking a portrait. His first exhibition was of landscapes and portraits in 1885 at Williams & Everett's, which gave him great encouragement, being well received by the press, although finan- cially a failure. His first portrait of any note was of Henry Sayles, a gentleman of high standing in art ; and its success gave him a start in his career as a portrait painter, by which he is now best known. He has never, however, made portrait painting a specialty, because he feels that an artist should do landscape as well, or anything that is beautiful. His latest and best work in portraiture are portraits of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Hood, Thomas H. Lord, Dr. George Lyman, Arthur Dexter, William Amory, Mrs. Dr. Warren, and other Bostonians. . He has exhibited in all the prominent exhibitions in the leading cities of the country; and at the World's Fair in Chicago he had three pictures,- a portrait, a landscape, and a figure painting. He is a member of the Boston Art Club and of the Boston Water Color Society, and has served many times on commit- tees for selection of pictures for exhibitions. Mr. Wagner was married May 10, 1876, to Miss Ama- lia Hank. They have had four children : Carl F. W., Eva Katherine, Bertha Marie, and Irving Jacob Wagner (deceased). His home is in Dedham.

WHITAKER, GEORGE MASON, of Boston, edi- tor and publisher of the New England Farmer, is a native of Southbridge, born July 30, 1851, son of Thomas and Harriet A. (Mason) Whitaker. His father was born at Bingley, England ; and his mother is of the Mason family, which traces back to the early days of Medfield, Dedham, and Roxbury. Of this family was the eminent musical leader, Dr. Lowell Mason, of Boston. Mr. Whitaker was fitted for college at the Nichols Academy in Dud- ley, and was graduated from Bowdoin in the class of 1872, three years later receiving the degree of A.M. He learned the trade of a printer, and before leaving college was at professional work as editor of the Southbridge Journal, having in 1871 bought a half-interest in that paper. He continued as editor of the Journal, subsequently purchasing the second half of the property, till ISS6, when he purchased the New England

Farmer, which he has since edited and published with marked success. He was one of the founders of the Bowdoin College Orient. In 1877 he founded the Temple Star, the organ of the Temple of Honor, a temperance fraternal order, which he published for ten years; and for five years he has published Our Grange Homes, an edition of the New England Farmer devoted es- pecially to the grange. He is much interested in educational work, and for several years did good service on the School Board of Southbridge and on the library committee there. He holds at present by appointment of the governor (first appointed

GEO. M. WHITAKER.

in 1891 and reappointed in 1893) the position de- fined by statute as "assistant to the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture in the work of the dairy bureau," which is substantially what in other States would be called " Dairy Commis- sioner." He has been the State head of the Temple of Honor ; was secretary of the Massa- chusetts Press Association four years (1881-85), vice-president one year (1886), and president two years (1886-87); was treasurer of the Suburban Press Association for ten terms, and president three terms (1891-92-93); and is serving his fourth term as treasurer of the Boston Press Club. He was married in 1871 to Miss Allie E. Weld,

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

who is an ex-vice-president and now secretary of the New England Woman's Press Association, editor of Ilcalth, and a well-known newspaper writer. They have two children : Lillian and Ethel Whitaker.

WILLIS, CHARLES W., of Boston, associate editor of the New England Grocer, is a native of Maine, born in Leeds, October 31, 1864, son of Amos B. and Almira A. Willis. He is of English and Dutch families who settled in Maine prior to the Revolution. He was educated in the High School, and early entered upon professional work, beginning as a correspondent for various news- papers. Upon coming to Boston in 1885, he be- came connected with the Boston Globe, for which he did general work, and for a time had charge of the marine department. In January, 1888, he joined the staff of the New England Grocer as associate editor, which position he still holds. In 1890 he went to Jamaica, West Indies, in the inter- ests of the New England Grocer, and travelled extensively over the island, exploring the interior and making a careful and systematic study of the banana and cocoanut culture, as pursued on the great plantations there, and also of the coffee and pimento industry. While in Kingston, he was re- ceived by the governor, Sir Henry Arthur Blake, K.C.M.G., and by the colonial treasurer, the Hon. HI. W. Livingston. Returning to Boston, he wrote a long series of articles from material col- lected on this trip, which gave to the New Eng- land Grocer additional popularity. Subsequently, in July, 1893, Mr. Willis was elected by the board of governors a member of the Institute of Ja- maica, an institution under the patronage of the colonial government for the promotion of liter- ature, science, and art. He is an active mem- ber and a director of the Boston Fruit and Produce Exchange, which is the largest and most influential chamber of its kind in the country, a member of the New England Railroad Club of Boston, and of the Boston Press Club. In politics he is a Republican, and believes in a protective tariff for protection only, but would have free iron, coal, and wool, and free ships. As an editor on the New England Grocer (which started in 1879, was the pioneer in the journalistic field in the interest of the grocery, produce, provision, and fruit trades), he pursues a progressive, conservative policy, combined with

a moderate amount of aggressiveness, which tend to carry weight to editorial utterances. As a fre- quent contributor to contemporary literature under the nom-de-plume of " Allan Eric," he is also known outside the ranks of trade journalism. Among the magazines in which his contributions appear are Goldthwaite's Geographical Magasine, Outing, the Home Maker, the Chicago Magasine, and the Canadian Magasine. He is also Ameri- can correspondent for journals in the West Indies and the Hawaiian Islands, and " The Town Crier" of the Boston Sunday Courier. Mr. Willis was married September 19, 1887, to Miss Lillian

C. W. WILLIS.

S. Winterton, of Boston, of English parentage and descended from old English families. He resides in Somerville, where he is surrounded by things congenial, among which are a fine library and in- teresting collections made during his travels.

WOOD, EDGAR MANTELBURT, of Pittsfield, member of the Berkshire bar, was born in Chesh- ire, Berkshire County, March 19, 1834, son of Simeon and Reliance E. (Brown) Wood. He obtained a thorough education, and was well fitted for his profession entirely through his own efforts, his parents, worthy, but poor, being unable to give

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him the training he earnestly desired. He at- tended the common schools and several acad- emies,- the Connecticut Literary Institute at Suffield, Conn., the Westfield Academy, Westfield, Mass., and the New York Conference Seminary, Charlotteville, N.Y.,- and entered Williams Col- lege, third term freshman, in the class of 1858, remaining there till the close of the first term junior, when he entered Union College in the same class, and graduated in 1858. In college he stood well, excelling especially in literary work and in debates. He began the study of law dur- ing the latter part of his senior year in the office

E. M. WOOD.

of John C. Wolcott, of Cheshire. Subsequently, in May, 1859, he entered the law office of M. K. Lanckton in Pittsfield, and there continued his reading until December following, when he was examined in open court by the late Judge Putnam, of the Superior Bench, and, successfully passing, was admitted to the bar. He opened his office in Pittsfield on the ist of April, 1860, and has been in active practice there ever since, one of the busiest lawyers in Berkshire County during his entire professional life. He has been retained in many important causes, and has probably tried more cases in court than any other attorney in the county. He is conscientious in the management

of his cases, a strong fighter for what he believes to be right, and has always striven earnestly to protect the rights of his clients. Early in his career he was elected commissioner of insolvency three times, serving in all nine years. In 1868 he was appointed commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts, which office he still holds ; and in 188o he was selected by the Hon. A. J. Water- man, then district attorney, to assist him in the duties of that office, since which time he has been assistant district attorney for Berkshire County. It has been said that indictments prepared by him are never " quashed." In politics Mr. Wood is an Independent, voting for the best man and the best measures irrespective of party. He has held no public office other than legal, his life having been devoted to his profession. A genial gentle. man, with a high sense of honor, successful in his professional work, he is a good specimen of a self- made man. He was married November 17, 1858, to Miss Mary C. Hubbard, of Pittsfield, daughter of William Hubbard, one of Pittsfield's prominent men. They have a daughter and a son : M. Anna (now a teacher in Wellesley College) and Arthur Hubbard Wood (graduate, 1894, of the Y'ale Law School).

WYMAN, ISAAC CHAUNCY, of Boston, member of the Suffolk bar, was born January 31, 1828, near Salem, at " Forest River," then called " Wy- man's Mills," from the owner's name. He is of Puritan descent. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Ingalls, and she was married in 1820. She was daughter of Henry Ingalls (U.S.N.) and Susan (Brown) Ingalls. His father, Isaac Wy- man, born on the ist of January, 1762, at Cam- bridge, Second Parish, died at Salem in 1836, was in the engagements of Lexington and Bunker Hill, at the siege of Boston acted in place of Reed who was Stark's lieutenant colonel, and thereafter served until the peace. The rest of his life was passed in active business. He was the son of Hezekiah Wyman, a soldier by profession, serving in Wolfe's campaign and elsewhere. Hezekiah Wyman was born in Woburn, son of Captain Wyman, memorable for the conduct of " Love- well's Fight," and who finally died of his wounds. His father was Lieutenant Seth Wyman, of Wo- burn, who died in 1715, son of Lieutenant John Wyman, who was born about the year 1621 in

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England, immigrated to New England about 1640, and died at Woburn. He was third son of Fran- cis Wyman, of the manor of Westmill, Herts,

ISAAC C. WYMAN.

England, where Francis died in 1658. Such is the American lineage of the subject of this sketch. The name is of Norse origin, and quite common with Norse peoples. It is spelled with i and r in- discriminately, and often after the ancient form of Wymund or Wymounth. Isaac C. Wyman's early life was passed at public boarding-school. After that he was four years at Princeton in the College of New Jersey, graduating there in 1848 with the degree of A.B., and receiving, in 1858 the degree of A.M. He took the regular law course and the degree of LL.B. at Harvard in 1850, and after the law school read in Boston with the old law firm of Hallett & Thomas; then in 1851 was ad- mitted to the bar in Suffolk County. Thereafter he served for a while as assistant to the United States commissioner and the United States dis- trict attorney during the incumbency of the Hon. B. F. Hallett (Brown University). Afterwards forming a connection with Charles G. Thomas (Harvard University), he was engaged exclusively in the practice of law for eleven years. During his term with Mr. Hallett occurred some notable trials. Captain Oaksmith, with his vessel, the

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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 71

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