Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 72

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 72

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" Wanderer." the last of the African slave-traders, was captured, convicted, and condemned. The famous fugitive slave cases of Simms and Burns were also of this period; and he was variously employed in the conduct of these and other causes. In 1862 the Thomas connection was dis- solved, and Mr. Wyman entered upon business alone. The practice before that time had been mostly in the branches of shipping and mercantile law. Having become a bank president (elected in about the year 1860 president of the Marble- head National Bank, one of the oldest banks in the country, and one of the three that survived the troubles of 1835), he thenceforward engaged more particularly in banking, real estate, and finance, with the law of those branches. A sufficiency of success has attended his pursuits first and last, and adequately rewarded the effort and industry employed.

YOUNG, JAMES HARVEY, of Boston. portrait painter, was born in Salem, June 14, 1830, son of William and Hannah (Harvey) Young. He was

J. HARVEY YOUNG.

educated in the private school of Jonathan Fox Worcester in Salem, and began the study and practice of painting when a boy. At the age of

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

fourteen he had a sign hung out as a portrait painter, and was executing portraits at five dollars each. His teacher was John Pope, of Boston, a popular portrait painter there until 1860, and after that date of New York. In 1848 he en- tered an architect's office in Boston as a draughts- man, and was so employed for four years, with intervals of painting when he could get a chance with an order. Then he opened a studio again as a professional artist, and devoted himself ex- clusively to portrait painting. It was not long before he was accorded a leading position among the artists of the city. He was one of the founders of the Boston Art Club, organized in 1854, and from 1861 to Iszt was director of Fine Arts at the Boston Athenaum. The long list of notable works from his brush includes por- traits of Edward Everett (the original belonging to Mrs. E. B. Everett), of William Warren (now in Chicago in the possession of the Rice family, relatives of Warren, taken at the time of his death from Miss Fisher's famous house in Bulfinch place, which was so long his home), of William H. Prescott and Horace Mann (both in the Salem Normal School), Colonel Ellsworth, and his avenger, Lieutenant Brownell (belonging to the Salem Cadets), General Townsend (in the Sol- diers' Home, Washington, D.C.), Thacher Magoun (for the city of Medford, in the Medford Public Library), Barnas Sears and Professors Whitney and Hackett (at Newton Theological Institute),

Peter C. Brooks and Rev. Dr. Peabody (for Exeter Academy), Professor Mulford (for Har- vard College), Rev. Dr. Hedge (for the family), John Ward Dean (New England Historic Genea- logical Society), General Wilde (for the Brookline Public Library), the Hon. M. P. Kennard, and of many other public and private individuals. A half-length, cabinet-size portrait of Everett by him is owned by Mrs. George Livermore, of Cam- bridge : and a copy of the original head is in the Boston Public Library. In the great Boston fire of November, 1872, Mr. Young's studio in the Mercantile Building, where he had long been established, was burned out with its contents. Since that time he has occupied a studio in West Street. Mr. Young is prominent in the Masonic order, having been commander-in-chief of Massa- chusetts Consistory, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite for three years, - From 1891 to 1894,- and now secretary of the Massachusetts Lodge of De- liberation, an honorary member of the Supreme Council of the thirty-third degree, and president of the Ancient Accepted Association. He is a member of the Boston Art Club and of the Twentieth Century Club. He was first married in Leominster, in 1853, to Miss Francena M. Wilder, daughter of Luke and Clarissa Wilder. The only child by this marriage is Charles Harvey Young. He married second, in 1884, Miss Louisa C. Knight, daughter of Joel and Susan C. Knight, of Boston.

PART VII.

ADAMS, GEORGE SMITH, M.D., of Westbor- ough, superintendent of the Westborough Insane Hospital, was born in Norwich, Conn., February 7, 1848, son of Joseph and Ann (Smith) Adams. His father and mother were both natives of Pais-

GEO. S. ADAMS.

ley, Scotland. He attended the public schools of his native place till he was twelve years old, and then went to work in a factory, where he was employed for three years. At the age of fifteen he went to Worcester, Mass., where he learned the machinist's trade, and for the next ten years worked at that trade. His medical studies were begun in 1873 at the Hahnemann Medical Col- lege, Philadelphia, for which he thoroughly fitted himself ; and after three years there he was gradu- ated with highest honors March 9, 1876. He remained in Philadelphia one year after gradua-

tion : then was for two years in successful prac- tice in Wilmington, N.C .; the next two years in Maynard, Mass., and the next five years in Worcester. He first became connected with the Westborough Insane Hospital in December, ISS6, as first assistant physician. This position he held until 1892, when in February he was pro- moted to the superintendency. He is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, of the Massachusetts Homeopathic Medical Society, and of the Worcester County Homeopathic Med- ical Society. He is also a member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity. He is an Odd Fellow, connected with the Quinsigamond Lodge of Worcester. In politics originally a Republican, of late years he has been an Independent. Dr. Adams was married May 30, 1878, to Miss Mary Wilcox, daughter of Francis E. Wilcox, of Phila- delphia. They have one son : Francis Joseph Adams (born December 17, 1880).

AMORY, CHARLES BEAN, of Boston, treasurer of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company, Lowell, was born in New York, July 30, 1841, son of Jonathan and Letitia (AAustin) Amory. His pater- nal grandparents were Jonathan Amory of Boston and Hetty Sullivan Amory, daughter of Governor James Sullivan of Massachusetts ; and his mater- nal grandparents, Dr. John Austin, of Demerara, and Mary Redding Austin. He was educated in the public schools, grammar and high, at Jamaica Plain. He began business life in May, 1857, entering the counting-room of B. C. Clark & Co., Commercial Wharf, Boston, and remained there until the Civil War period. when he entered the army, having previously served in 1860-61 as a private in the New England Guards. He was first lieutenant of the Twenty-fourth Regiment, Massa- chusetts Volunteers, from September 2, 1861. to July, 1862, and captain from July, 1862, to May, 1864: then became captain and assistant adjutant-

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general, United States Volunteers, staff of Gen- eral William F. Bartlett; and brevet major for gallantry in front of Petersburg, May 13. 1865. He served with his regiment in the following engagements : the Burnside expedition to North Carolina, Roanoke Island, capture of Newberne, Tarboro, Kinston, Whitehall, Goldsborough, the siege of Morris Island and Fort Sumter, the charge on rifle-pits in front of Battery Wagner, Drewry's Bluff, and then on the staff of General W. F. Bartlett in front of Petersburg, and at the explosion of Petersburg mine. At the latter he was captured and taken to Danville, Va., thence

CHAS. B. AMORY.

to Richland Jail, Columbia, S.C., and thence to Charlotte, N.C., where he escaped with Lieu- tenant Hoppin, Second Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. They were out five weeks, tramping over the Blue Ridge and Alleghany Mountains, striking the pickets of General Thomas's army at Greenville, East Tennessee. Then they received leave of absence for thirty days, at the end of which time Richmond had fallen and the war was practically over. Consequently Major Amory re- signed. After the war he was for two years, 1865-66, confidential clerk to Burnham & Dexter, cotton buyers in New Orleans. The next two years, 1867-68, he was a member of the firm of

Tabary & Amory, cotton brokers in New Orleans; from 1869 to 1878, a member of the firm of Jno. A. Burnham & Co., cotton buyers; and from 1878 to 1885, of the firm of Appleton, Amory, & Co., in the same business. Then, leaving New Orleans and coming North, he was in 1886 elected treas- urer of the Hamilton Company of Lowell, with office in Boston, the position he now holds. Mr. Amory is a member of the Massachusetts Military Historical Society, of the Loyal Legion, and of the Somerset and Country Clubs. Ilis residence is in Milton, where he is warden of the Church of the Holy Spirit, Mattapan. He was married June 9, 1867, to Miss Emily A. Ferriday, of Concordia Parish, La., who died July 31, 1879, leaving no children. He married second, April 30, 1881, Miss Lily Clapp, of New Orleans. By this union are four children : Charles Bean, Jr., Leita Mont- gomery, John Austin, and Roger Amory.

ANDERSON, GEORGE WESTON, of Boston, member of the Suffolk bar, is a native of New Hampshire, born in Acworth, September 1, 1861, son of David Campbell and Martha L. (Brigham) Anderson. Of his four grandparents, three, An- derson and Campbell on the paternal side, and Duncan on the maternal side, were of the Scotch- Irish stock that settled in Londonderry, N.H. His grandfather Brigham was of English descent. He attended the village school in Acworth until he reached the age of seventeen, then began teaching in district schools, thus making his way through the academy at Meriden, N.H., and at Ashburnham, Mass. He entered Williams Col- lege in 1882, and graduated with high honors in 1886. While in college he was a leader in the debating societies, devoted much time to literary work, and read widely in history and economics, as well as in general literature. After his grad- uation he taught for a time, then entered the Boston University Law School, where he was graduated in 1890, and was immediately ad- mitted to the Suffolk bar. Born and reared on a farm, and under the necessity of earning the means for his education, he was made self- reliant and practical, and, while an indefati- gable student, was no less vigorous in execution. Intense and persistent industry is perhaps his most marked characteristic. Success at the bar would naturally follow such a training producing

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

such habits. Shortly after he began practice he became the partner of George Fred Williams, then just elected to Congress, and was thrown

G. W. ANDERSON.

immediately into active business and with a num- ber of important cases. He was especially active in opposition to the endowment order schemes, both in the courts and before committees of the Legislature. In 1893 he was associated with Mr. Williams as counsel for the city of Boston in the investigation, before a special committee of the Legislature, of the Bay State Gas Trust, the result of which was the passage of an act reduc- ing the nominal capital of the company on which dividends were payable by three millions of dol- lars, and making a reduction in the price of gas to consumers in Boston of about four to five hun- dred thousand dollars a year. From 1891 until the spring of 1894, when he was compelled to re- sign by pressure of business, Mr. Anderson was an instructor in equity in the Boston University

Law School. He is now (1895) a member of the Boston School Committee. He is a member of the University Club, of the Twentieth Century Club, the Massachusetts Reform Club, the Minot J. Savage Club, the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusetts, the Free Trade League, and the Immigration Restriction League. In pol-

ities he has been a steadfast Democrat, though reared a Republican. He is unmarried.

ANDERSSON, ANDREW, of Boston, merchant, is a native of Sweden, born in Suterby, Socken, June 1, 1852, son of Andrew and Annabrita (Johhanson) Andersson, He is of Swedish de- scent through many generations. His father was a wealthy real estate owner in his native place. He received a good academic education, and be- gan business as a clerk in a grocery store in Göteborg. In 1869 he came to this country, and some years after was followed by his father and five brothers, his mother having died in Sweden in April, 1882. Subsequently the brothers en- gaged in business in Boston, where they are still established. The father died March 28, 1888. Mr. Andersson joined the bark " R. A. Allan " the year of his coming to the United States, and fol- lowed its fortunes for three years as second officer. Then he engaged in the restaurant business in Boston, and continued in this line, with a prosper- ous trade, until 1883, when he became established

ANDREW ANDERSSON.

in the wholesale liquor business, which he has since followed. He is connected with the Ma- sonic fraternity, member of the Mount Taber, E. B.

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

Lodge; with the order of Odd Fellows, member of Siloam Lodge; and with the Elks, Boston Lodge No. 10. He is a lover of fine horses, of which he owns a number, and is often met on the boulevards in the driving and sleighing seasons.

ATWOOD, GEORGE EDWIN, of Boston, mer- chant, was born in Wellfleet, October 5, 1843, son of Eleazer HI. and Susan ( Freeman) Atwood. He was educated in the common schools of his native town. He came to Boston in May, 1863, when twenty years of age, and there began his business

GEORGE E. ATWOOD.

career as a clerk in the store of Childs, Crosby, & Lane. In January of the following year he en- tered the employ of Rich & Putnam, trunk and bag manufacturers, one of the largest firms in that line in New England, and has ever since been connected with this establishment. In January, 1874, he became a member of the firm, succeeding to the business under the name of Young, Reed, & Atwood; and in May following, the present quarters, No. 32 Federal Street, were occupied. Five years later the firm name was changed to the present style of Rich, Reed, & Atwood. Mr. Atwood has long been prominent in Methodist denominational affairs and in the Boston Young

Men's Christian Association. He is a member of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Bos- ton, and of its board of trustees ; a member of the board of managers and the treasurer of the Methodist City Missionary Society of Boston; and member of the board of managers of the Young Men's Christian AAssociation. He is connected with the Masonic fraternity, a member of Mt. Lebanon Lodge, and was master of the lodge through the years ISSi to 1883. Mr. Atwood is unmarried.

BARNARD, EDWARD HERBERT, of Boston, artist, was born in Belmont, July 10, 1855, son of Samuel and Sarah A. (Crafts) Barnard. He is descended on the paternal side from the Eng- lish family of Barnards and a French family of Vilas; and on the maternal side he descends from Lieutenant Griffin Crafts of England. He was educated in the public schools of Belmont and in private schools, those of David Mack in Belmont and of Charles Ware in Boston. He became a special student of architecture in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1873, and later took the prize offered by the American Society of Architects in 1875. In October of the latter year he entered the office of Cum- mings & Sears, where his training for this branch of professional work continued. Having, how- ever, a strong desire for more artistic work, he became a pupil of John B. Johnston in 1876, and upon the opening of the School of Drawing and Painting of the Museum of Fine Arts entered the antique and life class, where he remained under the instruction of the late Otto Grundmann until iSSo, meantime studying landscape with Mr. Johnston. In 1882, being compelled to earn a living, he secured a position as figure designer in a well-known decorative and stained-glass house of Boston, and to this work entirely devoted four years. In 1886 he went to France, and studied a year in Paris under Boulanger and Lefebvre. Then, wishing less academic and more personal instruction, he entered the atelier of Raphael Col- lin, and remained there two years. While in Paris he exhibited portraits in the Salon of 1888 and 1889 and a genre picture, a pastime of the Middle Ages, in the Paris Exposition of the latter year. Returning to America in July, 1889, he ob- tained a position as instructor of drawing at the Bradford Academy. Since his return from abroad he has devoted himself mostly to portraits and

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

landscape, working at Plymouth, Chatham, and Mystic, Conn. "Surf, Chatham," and " Mid- day," exhibited at the Columbian Exposition, and

EDWD. H. BARNARD.

" The River Weeders " are among his later works. He is a member of the Boston Art Club.

BARROWS, ROSWELL STORRS, of Jamaica Plain, Boston, real estate operator in the West Roxbury District and insurance agent, is a native of Rhode Island, born in Providence, June 11, 1848, son of Experience Storrs and Maria (Searles) Barrows. His father, born in Mansfield, Conn., died in 1875, was son of the late Robert Barrows, a well- known and influential farmer in Mansfield and for twenty-five years a wholesale grocer in Provi- dence. His mother was born in Warwick, R. I., and is still living at the ripe age of eighty-three years. He was educated in the Providence public schools. His business life was begun as a clerk for his father in Providence, with whom he remained several years. In 1869 he came to Boston, and began work with the Atna Life In- surance Company, establishing his office at No. 227 Washington Street. After an experience of three years with this company he engaged in the fire insurance business on his own account, doing

also some life insurance. In 1878 he succeeded to the general real estate business of the late Alden Bartlett in the offices in Bartlett's Building, Jamaica Plain, continuing his Boston office, and since that time has conducted both offices, making twenty-five years in the same Boston office. He has made Jamaica Plain and other West Roxbury property a specialty, and his sales have reached large amounts. He has built thirty or more houses in the best sections of Jamaica Plain, several of them models of architectural beauty. lle is also proprietor of the Jamaica Plain, Roslin- cale, and West Roxbury News. He is at present ( 1895) employed in the settlement of claims aris- ing from elevating the tracks of the Providence Division of the New York, New Haven & Hart- ford Railroad in the West Roxbury District. Mr. Barrows is an active worker in politics on the Republican side ; but he has never aspired to office, repeatedly declining to accept nominations for alderman and other positions. He is a mem- ber of the Jamaica and Eliot clubs, and of the Masonic order. He was married, April 30, 1872, to Miss Maria Louise Baker, daughter of Elijah C.

R. S. BARROWS.

Baker, of Providence, R.I. They have three daughters : Louise B., Alice Earle, and Cecelia A. Barrows.

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

BEAN, JACOB WALTER, M. D., of West Medford, is a native of New Hampshire, born in Sutton, June 7, 1855, son of William Taylor and Sally D. (Felch) Bean. His ancestors on both sides were New England people, of strong character- istics and religious belief. He was born on the same farm as his father and grandfather. His great-grandfather, Samuel Bean, Jr., had twelve children ; and Jacob, his grandfather, for whom he was named, was the second of these. His grand- father also had a large family of eleven children, of whom his father. William T'., was the ninth, born July 29, 1813, and still living. He himself

J. W. BEAN

was the sixth of seven children. He was edu- cated in the public schools and at Colby Academy, New London, N.H. Reared on the farm until fourteen years of age, he was early trained to habits of industry and frugality ; and, when he felt the desire for more education than the common schools and home reading could afford, he was ready to engage in any occupation which would enable him to obtain means for continuing his studies. After nearly three years in grammar and high schools he secured a position as assistant superintendent in the Rockingham County Alms- house and House of Correction, and here was employed for three years. Then he was able to

pursue his studies in Colby Academy. He began the study of medicine in 1878 with Dr. Moses W. Russell, his brother-in-law, in Concord, N.H. Subsequently he worked some time in Boston to secure funds to meet the expense of further study, and in the spring of ISSo he attended his first course of lectures, at the University of Vermont. A course was next taken at the University of New York; and then returning to the Vermont University, he was graduated there in July, 1882. He began practice the following September, set- tled in Lyme, N.H., forming a partnership with Dr. Charles F. Kingsbury, who, being one of the oldest practitioners in that section, had an extended business. The following May, being elected to the office of county commissioner, Dr. Kingsbury was frequently called from his professional work into active public service ; but the latter's influ- ence, combined with energy and ambition on Dr. Bean's own part, brought to him a business far beyond what any young practitioner might natu- rally expect. Ile remained in Lyme until Novem- ber, 1889, when the business was sold. The following winter was spent in New York in the hospitals and in private study with several leading specialists. Then, in the spring of 1890, he came to Massachusetts, and established himself in West Medford, where he was soon engaged in a suc- cessful practice, which has since steadily increased. In April, 1894, he was made a member of the local Board of Health. He is a member of the New Hampshire State Medical Society and of the White River Medical Association. Ile belongs to the Mt. Hermon Lodge of Masons and the Mt. Vernon Lodge of Odd Fellows, is connected also with the Golden Cross and the Royal Arcanum as member and medical examiner, and is a member of the Medford Club. In politics he is a Republi- can. In the autumn of 1888 he was elected for two years to the New Hampshire Legislature, where he was an active and influential member, serving on several important committees. He is a member of the Congregational church of West Medford. Dr. Bean was married June 7, 1884, to Miss Ella S. Kingsbury, daughter of Charles F. Kingsbury, M. D. (Dartmouth, 1855). They have one child : Charles Franklin Kingsbury Bean.

BENSON, FRANK WESTON, artist, instructor of life drawing in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, was born in Salem, March 24, 1862, son of

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

George W. and Elizabeth (Poole) Benson. He was educated in the public schools of Salem. At the age of eighteen, in 18So, he entered the School

FRANK W. BENSON.

of Drawing and Painting, Boston Art Museum, and studied there three years ; then went to Paris. where he studied two years in Julien Academy, under Jules Lefebvre and Gustav Boulanger. Re- turning to America in 1885, he has since been established in Boston. During 1886 and 1887 he was instructor of drawing and painting to the Portland School of Art. In May, 1889, he was appointed instructor of drawing to the school of the Boston Art Museum, and became instructor of life drawing, the position he now holds, in 1892. He has received numerous prizes for his work, the list including: the third Hallqarten prize, National Academy of Design, for picture "Orpheus "; the Clarke prize, National Academy of Design, for "Twilight "; the Ellsworth prize, Chicago, "Twilight "; the World's Fair medal, Chicago, " Portrait in White"; the silver medal, Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association, Boston, "In an Old Garden"; the first Jordan prize, Boston, 1894. "Lamplight": first Jordan prize, Boston, 1895, " Mother and Children " ; and third Art Club prize, Boston, 1895, "Winter Storm." Mr. Benson is a member of the Society

of American Artists, New York, and of the Tavern Club, Boston. He was married October 17, 1888, to Miss Ellen Perry Peirson, of Salem. They have three children : Eleanor Perry, George Em- ery, and Elisabeth.

BLAKE, HARRISON GRAY, M.D., of Woburn, is a native of Woburn, born January 26, 1864, son of Ebenezer Norton and Harriet (Cummings) Blake. He is a descendant in the eighth gener- ation from William Blake, who came to this country in 1630 from Essex, England, and settled in Dorchester. His paternal great-grandfather was a tinsmith on King, now State, Street in Boston at the time of the occupation of the town by the British troops, and was obliged to remove to Worcester, owing to his refusal to supply them with canteens. His grandfather was a practising physician for forty years at Farmington Falls, Me .; and there his father was born. On the maternal side he is of Scotch descent, in the eighth generation from Isaac Cummings, who was living in Watertown in 1642, and afterward removed to Topsfield, which was the home of the

HARRISON G. BLAKE.

family for several generations. His maternal grandfather was a tanner in Woburn. Dr. Blake was educated in the Woburn public schools,

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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 72

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