Men of progress one thousand biographical sketches and portraits of leaders in business and professional life in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Part 75

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 75

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right arm, and his horse killed, falling upon him, so that he was captured at Aldie, Va., June 17, 1863. He was thereafter a prisoner of war for seventeen months and nineteen days at Libby Prison, Richmond, and Danville, Va., Macon, Ga., Charleston (where he was kept under fire) and Columbia, S.C., finally escaping from the latter place November 4, 1864, and reaching Knoxville, Tenn., after travelling thirty-one nights. He was then in the hospital on Lookout Mountain eleven days, reached Washington January 3. 1865, and was mustered out as major. Major Davis is president of the National Association of Union ex-Prisoners of War, serving now his second term, 1894-95 ; president of the Massachusetts Associa- tion of Union ex-Prisoners of War, having served since 1891 ; first vice-president of the Cavalry Societies of the United States (1893-94, 1894-95); secretary and treasurer of the Boys of '61-65 of the Massachusetts Legislature; a member of the Massachusetts Commandery of the Loyal Legion ; was commander of Post 15, Grand Army of the Republic, in 1871 ; president of the First Massachusetts Cavalry Association from 1883 to 1891, and again in 1893-94 ; adjutant in 1875, and first lieutenant in 1883. of the Ancient and Honor- able Artillery Company; and is past commander of the Roxbury City Guard. Company D), First Regi- ment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. He is also prominent in the Masonic fraternity, a mem- ber of the Massachusetts Consistory, thirty-sec- ond degree, and of the Washington Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons ; is a member of the Royal Arcanum. the Knights of Honor, and a Master Workman. He has served two terms in the Bos- ton Common Council, 1873-74, during his second term chairman of the committee on military affairs. In politics he is a Republican. His father before him was a Free Soiler, and a dele- gate from Lowell to the Free Soil Convention that nominated John P. Hale for President. He is a member of the Highland Club of West Rox- bury, and its first president, serving in 1888-89. Major Davis was first married in May, 1867, to Miss Josephine Elizabeth Walker, of Worces- ter, by whom he had two children : Frederick Appleton (born in Boston, May, 1869) and Charles Griffin Davis, Jr. (born November, 1871). Mrs. Davis died in February, 1873. He married second in October, 1877, Miss Martha A. H. Sautelle, of Boston. They have one child : George Gilman Davis (born August 13, 1881).

DEARBORN. ALVAR BERTON, M.D., of Somer- ville, is a native of Maine, born in Topsham. August 3, 1842, son of Frederick W. and Alvira (Daly) Dearborn. He is a descendant of Godfrey Dearborn, who came from England to Hampton, N.H., about the year 1637. After the Revolution his great-grandfather with two brothers went from Hampton, and settled in what is now Monmouth. Me. : and there his father was born April 11, 1809. His maternal grandfather, Dr. Daly, was a promi- nent physician at Monmouth for many years. His early education was acquired in the district school of Topsham. He was fitted for college at the Maine State Seminary (now Bates College) at Lewiston, and, entering Bowdoin, graduated there A.B. in 1863 and M.D. in 1870. He began the practice of medicine at Salisbury, Mass., subse- quently, in 1874, removing to Newburyport, and coming to Somerville in 1884. Five years after his establishment in Somerville, in 1889. he was appointed city physician ; and this office he has held since. In Newburyport he served on the School Board nine years; and he is now serving on the Somerville School Board, in his second

ALVAH B. DEARBORN.

term of three years, which expires in 1898. He is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Soci- ety and of the American Academy of Medicine,

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and is connected with the Masonic fraternity as a member of the John Abbot Lodge of Somerville. In politics he is an Independent.

DE NORMANDIE, REV. JAMES, of Boston. pastor of the First Church in Roxbury (Unita- rian), is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Newtown, June 9, 1836, son of James and Sarah B. (Yard- ley) De Normandie. The De Normandie family, with Andre De Normandie its head, came from Geneva, and settled at Bristol, Penna., in 1706. Their home for several generations was at Noyon, France. The Yardley family came from England with William Penn, among the founders of Penn- sylvania. Mr. De Normandie received his prepar- atory education at home, and his collegiate training at Antioch College, under Horace Mann, where he was graduated in 1858. After leaving college, he taught a year in Washington University, St. Louis, Mo. Then he entered the Harvard Divin- ity School at Cambridge, and graduated therefrom in 1862. Six months before graduation he was called to the South Parish, Portsmouth, N. H .; and

JAMES DE NORMANDIE.

here began a long and successful pastorate, cover- ing a period of twenty-one years, until 1883, when he succeeded the late Dr. Putnam over the his-

toric First Church of Roxbury. While at Ports- mouth, he was invited to the Church of the Messiah in St. Louis, the Unity Church and Second Parish in Worcester, and to several other leading Unitarian churches, but declined all these calls. During his long residence in that city he took an influential part in educational and philan- thropic work, and became prominent in denomi- national affairs. He was for several years chair- man of the National Conference of Unitarian Churches, and for a long term director in the American Unitarian Association Board; and was early a contributor to the denominational periodi- cal publications. For seven years, from 1882, he was editor of the Unitarian Review. In Roxbury Dr. De Normandie's work has been a most faithful and earnest pulpit administration. He is almost always to be found on Sunday at his own church, preaching to a very intelligent congregation. The pastoral duties which have fallen to him include services far and wide outside of his own church. In this respect he is one to whom the sorrowing as well as the joyful turn in times of bereavement and when the wedding event occurs. Dr. De Nor- mandie is allied with philanthropic work, and maintains a personal co-operation with various activities of this kind in Roxbury and the city proper. He is often called upon to give installa- tion sermons and to lecture. He has been presi- dent of the Board of Trustees of the Roxbury Latin School, one of the oldest schools in the country, since 1884; and in 1895 was made a trustee of the Boston Public Library. In politics he is a Republican. He was married October 27, 1864, to Miss Emily Farnum Jones, daughter of William Jones, of Portsmouth. Their children are : Albert Lunt, Philip Yardley, Charles Lunt, Will- iam Jones, and Robert Laurent De Normandie.

DEWEY, HENRY SWEETSER, of Boston, mem- ber of the Suffolk bar, is a native of New Hamp- shire, born in llanover, November 9, 1856, son of Major Israel Otis Dewey and Susan Augusta (Sweetser) Dewey. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Massachusetts. On the paternal side he is a lineal descendant of Thomas Dewey from Sandwich, county of Kent, England, who settled in Dorchester, Mass., as early as 1633 ; and on the maternal side he is a de- scendant of Seth Sweetser, from Tring, Hertford- shire, England, who was settled in Charlestown in

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

1637. His father was in early life a merchant in Hanover, where he held numerous positions of honor, both State and Federal, and afterward a

HENRY S. DEWEY.

paymaster in the United States Army. His mother was a daughter of General Henry Sweet- ser, of Concord, N. H. Mr. Dewey's boyhood and youth were passed principally in the Southern and Western States, at various places where his father was stationed. He was fitted for college under private tutors at Salt Lake City, and, entering Dartmouth, was graduated there in 1878 with the regular degree of A.B. Three years later he re- ceived the degree of A.M. from the same institu- tion. In college he was a member of the Alpha Delta P'hi Society. Soon after his graduation he was appointed paymaster's clerk, United States Army, and while serving in this capacity came to Boston in August, 1878, where he has since re- sided. In 1880 he resigned his position of pay- master's clerk, and then took up the study of law, attending the Boston University Law School and reading in the office of the Hon. Ambrose A. Ranney. He received his degree of LL.B. from the law school in June, 1882, and, at once ad- mitted to the bar, has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession in Boston. He has been justice of the peace and notary public

since 1882 ; since 1891 one of the Board of Bar Examiners for Suffolk County, appointed by the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court; and since February, 1893, a master in chancery for the county of Suffolk. In politics he is a Republi- can, and from 1884 to 1888 was a member of the Republican ward and city committee of Boston. He has served three terms in the Boston Common Council (1885-86-87), and three terms in the State House of Representatives (1889-90-91) for the Twenty-first Suffolk District. During his first term in the House he was a member of the com- mittee on the judiciary, and his second and third terms chairman of that committee. He has also served for some time in the State militia, having been a member of the First Corps of Cadets from June 11, 1880, to February 26, 1889. when he was commissioned judge advocate on the staff of the First Brigade, with rank of captain, which position he now holds. He is a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. His club associations are with the Algonquin, Athletic. Roxbury, and Curtis clubs of Boston.

JOHN F. DOWSLEY.

DOWSLEY, JOHN FRANCIS, D.D.S., of Boston, is a native of Newfoundland, born in St. John, February 14, 1854, son of Felix and Margaret

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( Bates) Dowsley. His early education was at- tained in the local schools; and he attended St. Bonaventure College until 1868, when the sudden death of his father necessitated his withdrawal from school. The family then removed to Bos- ton, and he found employment in the Western Union Telegraph office. Here he was engaged several years, at the same time pursuing studies in an evening school. At length, deciding to adopt dentistry as a profession, he entered the Boston Dental College in 1882, and after a year's study here went to the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, where he graduated March 6, 1884. He has since practised in Boston. In April, 1887, he was appointed by Governor Ames a member of the Board of Registration in Den- tistry ; was reappointed in 1888, again reappointed by Governor Russell in 1891, resigned in Decem- ber, 1893; but, being urgently requested to re- consider, did so, and in April, 1894, was for the third time reappointed, this time by Governor Greenhalge. Dr. Dowsley is a member of the Massachusetts and New England Dental Socie- ties and of the National Association of Dental Examiners; also of the Young Men's Democratic Club of Massachusetts, of the Boston Cricket Club, and of the Royal Arcanum. He was mar- ried February 4, 1885. to Miss Mary A. Cloney, of Roxbury. They have three children: Katha- rine Sydney, John Francis, Jr., and Margaret Bates Dowsley.

DUTTON, SAMUEL LANE, M.D., of Boston, was born in Acton, July 15. 1835, son of Solomon I. and Olive C. (Hutchinson) Dutton. His pa- ternal grandparents were Samuel and Anna (Lane) Dutton ; and his maternal grandparents, Nathan- iel and Susannah (Wheeler) Hutchinson. Both branches came early to this country. His gen- eral education was acquired at public school and at the Appleton and Francestown academies. He was fitted for his profession at the Harvard Med- ical School, graduating in the class of 1860, and has followed it continuously since graduation. He served in the Union army during the Civil War, from 1862 to 1865, first as assistant surgeon of the First Massachusetts Heavy Artillery, and early promoted to the rank of surgeon of the Fortieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry; and then surgeon in chief, First Brigade, Third Di- vision, Eighteenth Army Corps. After the war he resumed general practice in Boston, but in course

of time, on account of an old army trouble, was obliged to abandon it ; and for several years past he has devoted his attention exclusively to the cluties of medical director of the Massachusetts Benefit Life Association of Boston. During the Harrison administration he was pension examin- ing surgeon for the Boston District. Dr. Dutton is a member of the Massachusetts Medical Soci- ety and of the district society, past member of the Boston Society for Medical Observation, and a charter member of the Boston Gyna cological Society. In politics he is a Republican. He be- longs to the Grand Army of the Republic, mem-

S. L. DUTTON.

ber of Post 113, and to the Loyal Legion. He is also a member of the Boston Baptist Social Union. He was married September 25, 1860, to Miss Sur- viah P. Stevens, of Chelmsford. They have had four children : Edgar F., Grace S. (deceased), Bertha H., and Mary E. Dutton.

DYER, BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, of Boston, insur- ance agent, was born in West Hawley, May 15, 1841, son of the Rev. Anson and Mercie ( llowes) Dyer. His father was a clergyman of the Ortho- dox Congregational denomination. His ancestors on both sides were early settlers of Cape Cod.

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

He was educated in the common school and at the Shelburne Falls Academy. His boyhood, until the age of twelve, was spent on a Western

BENJ. F. DYER.

Massachusetts farm ; and from twelve to seven- teen years of age, when not at school or academy, he was employed part of the time by the Lamson & Goodnow Manufacturing Company (cutlery), Shelburne Falls. After leaving the academy, in 1857, he continued with the Lamson & Good- now Company until 1862, in their office in New York City. From 1862 to 1867 he was with Giles, Wales & Co., Maiden Lane, New York, wholesale dealers in watches and jewelry, and watch manufacturers, as book-keeper and cashier. Then he returned to Shelburne Falls, and for the next three years engaged there in the retail grocery business for the purpose of regaining his health, which had become impaired through too close application to his work in New York. In 1870 he came to Boston, and has since been en- gaged in business here, first in real estate and insurance brokerage, and since 1884 in accident insurance alone. During the carly part of his residence in New York he was connected with the New York State National Guard, a member of the Twenty-second Regiment : and at the outbreak of the Civil War he was with his regiment when

the State troops were called into service to relieve regulars stationed near Washington, that the latter might be made available at the front. In politics he is a Republican. He is much interested in music, and has been an active member of the Apollo Club of Boston for twenty years. Mr. Dyer was married June 6, 1866, to Miss Annie D). McChesney, of Trenton, N.J. They have had a son and daughter : Benjamin Raymond (deceased at the age of twelve) and Winnifred May Dyer.

EMERY, WINFRED NEWELL, M.D., of Wal- tham, was born in South Chatham, June 11, 1866, son of George Newell and Phebe Wilman ( Rog- ers) Emery. His ancestry has been traced back to John Emery, born in 1598, in Romsey, Hamp- shire County, England, who landed in Boston. June 3, 1635, from the ship " James." of London. The line runs as follows : John Emery's son, John, Jr., born in England, 1628; his son, the Rev. Samuel, born in 1670, graduated from Harvard College in 1671 ; his son, the Rev. Stephen, born 1707. graduated H.C. 1730; his son, John, born

W. N. EMERY.

1747. became lieutenant in Colonel Dike's regi- ment, and was among the officers sent to guard Dorchester Heights in March. 1777 : his son. Ste-

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phen, born 1783; his son, Stephen, Jr., born 1817 ; his son, George Newell, born 1841 ; his son, the present Winfred Newell. Dr. Emery was educated in the Boston public grammar and high schools, taking classics in the Berkeley In- stitute ; and his medical studies were pursued at the Boston University School of Medicine, where he graduated in 1891. For a year, from April 1, 1890, to April 1, 1891, he was resident surgeon in the Boston Homeopathic Dispensary. He began regular practice in June, 1891, settled in East Boston. He continued there until the Ist of January, 1894, when he removed to Waltham, his present field. He is a member of the Massa- chusetts Homeopathic Medical Society, of the Boston Homeopathic Medical Society, of the Massachusetts Surgical and Gyna cological Soci- ety, and of the New England Hahnemann Asso- ciation. He is connected with the order of Odd Fellows, a member of the Prospect Lodge, Wal- tham; and is a member of the Citizens' Club. While at school, he was first lieutenant in Com- pany I of the Highland Battalion, Boston School Regiment, 1884-85, and took the prize for excel- lence in company drill. In politics he is a Re- publican, and in religion a Methodist.

FAELTEN, CARL, of Boston, director of the New England Conservatory of Music, was born in Ilmenau, Thuringia, December 21, 1846, son of Carl G. and Friederike (Moller) Faelten. His father was in the civil service as city clerk of Ilmenau. He was educated in the Latin School at Weimar, Germany. Early evincing a marked aptitude for music, he was given in his boyhood thorough elementary instruction in piano and the- ory, and at the age of fifteen entered an orchestral school at Arnstadt, where he remained until his nineteenth year, during this period also pursu- ing a variety of hard orchestral work, and be- coming proficient in a number of instruments, especially the violin and clarinet. After this training, which was attained mainly through his own exertions, he was for a while engaged as a violin-player in orchestras in various places in his own country and in Switzerland, and at length settled in Frankfort-on-the-Main, as a member of a small orchestra there established. While at Frankfort, he resumed his studies in the piano- forte under the friendly advice of Herr Julius Schock and other prominent musicians, whose at-

tention he had attracted by his work, and was making notable progress when he was called into military service by the outbreak of the Franco- Prussian war of 1870-71. He served through- out that war in the German army as a private in the Eighty-first Regiment, and at its close re- turned to his old work and studies at Frankfort with fresh ardor. His advance was so rapid and substantial that he soon ranked among the fore- most musicians of that exceptionally musical com- munity. From 1874 to 1877 he spent much time in successful teaching, and also appeared occa- sionally in symphony and in special concerts with

CARL FAELTEN.

leading artists, or in his own recitals at Berlin, Bremen, Cassel, Haag, Schwerin, Wiesbaden, Vienna, and London. When at Wiesbaden, it was his good fortune to make the acquaintance and win the friendship of Joachim Raff, the celebrated composer. And later on, in 1877, when Raff was engaged to organize and direct a conservatory of music in Frankfort, one of the first appointments to his staff of teachers was that of Faelten, who was especially assigned to the training of teachers, in association with Mme. Clara Schumann. This work he prosecuted with marked success, gradu- ating, during his connection with the institution, a large number of students well equipped for

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the profession of teaching. He also delivered a series of lectures each year on the theoretical and practical requirements of the teacher of the piano- forte. After the death of Raff, in 1882, he de- cided to come to America, and settle here. His first engagement was at Baltimore with the l'ea- body Institute, which he made soon after his ar- rival in the autumn of 1882. Here he remained for three years, and then, accepting an appoint- ment as professor of the New England Conserv- atory, came to Boston, which has since been his home. He had not been long in the conservatory when he was given a part in its management. In the autumn of 1889, upon the retirement, on ac- count of illness, of the late Dr. Eben Tourjee, the founder and first director, he was made chair- man of the directory committee, and shortly after acting director ; and upon the death of Dr. Tour- jée, in the spring of 1891, he became director, which position he has held from that time. Dur- ing his administration numerous changes in the system have been introduced, and additional ad- vantages to students offered, which have raised the standard and increased the reputation of the institution. He has continued his work as a con- cert pianist, playing each season in symphony concerts or giving recitals, fully maintaining his position as a musician of the first rank. He has published a number of musical text-books, the list of his publications including the following : " Technische Uebungen " (Schott & Sons), "Pre- paratory Exercises " (A. P. Schmidt), " Piano- forte Course of the New England Conservatory," four volumes ; "Fundamental Training," of the same series, together with his brother Reinhold Faelten, and some transcriptions of Schubert's songs. He is a member of the St. Botolph Club and of the Harvard Musical Association. He was married in 1877, to Miss Adele Schloesser, of Lübeck, Germany. They have three children : Otto, aged twelve years; Anne F., aged eight ; and Willibald C. Faelten, aged six years.

FISK, EVERETT OLIN, of Boston, president of the Fisk Teachers' Agencies, was born in Marl- boro, August 1, 1850, son of the Rev. Franklin and Chloe Catherine (Stone) Fisk. His father was a Methodist minister. Both parents were of English stock; and his mother was a grand- daughter of Captain John Cobb, a soldier of the Revolution. He received his early education at

the high school in Grafton (Mass.), the Caze- novia (N.Y.) Seminary, and Wilbraham (Mass.) Academy ; and his collegiate training at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., where he gradu- ated A. B. in 1873, and A.M. in 1876. From 1873 to 1875 he taught high schools in Wallingford and Enfield, Conn .; and then, entering business, was for the next ten years New England agent for Ginn & Co., Boston, educational book publishers, in which work he met with gratifying success. Leaving this in 1885 to establish the Fisk Teachers' Agency, he has since been engaged as the presi- dent of that institution in its development and

EVERETT O. FISK.

management. In its third year branch offices were opened in New York and in Chicago ; and subsequently others were established in Washing- ton, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Toronto, thus covering the country and forming the most exten- sive and important system of teachers' agencies in the world. Mr. Fisk is also actively connected with Methodist denominational interests. He is president of the Boston Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was a delegate to the General Conference of 1892. He is a member of the executive committee of the Boston Municipal League, and a director of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association. His elub

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MEN OF PROGRESS.

affiliations are with the University, the Boston Art, and the Twentieth Century clubs. He was married September 12, 1882, to Miss Helen Chase Steele, of Boston. They have one child : Harriette Storer Fisk (born October 14, 1884).

FLOYD, DAVID, 2d, of Winthrop and Boston, real estate and insurance broker, was born in Winthrop, October 26, 1854, son of Edward and Lucretia (Tewksbury) Floyd. He is on both sides of old New England families. The Floyds came early to this country from Wales, and lived

DAVID FLOYD, 2d.

for many generations in that part of the original town of Chelsea which is now Revere; and the Tewksburys have been residents of what is now Winthrop for about two centuries. His grand- mother Tewksbury was a Sturgis, a family who lived in Boston for many years. The remotest ancestor known lived in Barnstable. He was educated in the Winthrop public schools and at a Boston commercial college. After the death of his father in 1879 he devoted his time to the care of his real estate interests, and also of those of other members of his family, for the next ten years. 'T'hen in 1889, forming a partnership with Frank W. Tucker, he entered the general real

estate and insurance business. In 1891 Mr. Tucker withdrew ; and he has since continued the business alone, with offices in Winthrop and at No. 34 School Street, Boston. He has been es- pecially identified with the history of Winthrop during the past fifteen years, holding numerous town positions, and also serving on committees which have accomplished much for the place, such as : the present by-laws, which govern town affairs; the sewerage system now being com- pleted ; the improved method of keeping the as- sessors' and other records of the town ; the ob- taining of a location from private owners of lands, and from the different commissions, which has given Winthrop its present excellent railroad ser- vice ; and in enforcing the sentiment of the town against liquor-selling. He was for six years, from 1883 to 1889, an assessor ; for eleven years, to 1894, town treasurer ; has been a trustee of the Public Library from its founding in 1885 ; and in 1887 and 1889 represented the district, including Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop, in the General Court. He was one of the incorporators of the County Savings Bank of Chelsea, and its vice- president. He belongs to the Masonic order, member of the Winthrop Lodge, and to the Bos- ton Council of the Royal AArcanum ; is a member of the Boston Methodist Social Union, and was its president in 1893 ; and is a trustee of the Win- throp Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican, and active in party affairs. For five years prior to 1893 he was chairman of the Winthrop Republican town committee ; and he has served as a member of the Congressional and other committees for ten years. Mr. Floyd was married June 9, 1886, to Miss Belle A. Seavey, of Winthrop. They have no children.

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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 75

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